London Fashion Week is 40 – but can it stay relevant?

London Fashion Week is back, and is celebrating 40 years in the industry by doing what it does best – showcasing what’s hot on the catwalk, with more than 250 designers.

Currently part of the Big Four fashion weeks alongside New York, Milan and Paris, LFW is now recognised globally.

It started as the brainchild of Lynne Franks, who had her own PR agency, and wanted to showcase the capital’s fashion talent, including her clients.

Franks wanted to find somewhere she could launch the young designers and models she wanted to promote, and came across the lawn outside the Commonwealth Institute, which is now known as the Design Museum in the capital’s Holland Park.

The lawn was big enough to pitch a tent, and so that is where LFW started, under canvas, like some of the fashion shows in Paris and Milan.

She secured funding from one of her clients, but after three seasons they had to relocate due to the tent sinking into the lawn, according to a recent interview she did with Vogue, external.

So LFW moved to Duke of York’s Barracks in Sloane Square, which is now known as Saatchi Gallery.

By 1986 the bigger and better venue meant more space for creativity, but this meant it also needed more funding, which Franks again secured from her clients.

“We had a much bigger tent down there, spaces in the complex, press office, double catwalks…it was wonderful”, Franks told the BBC.

As it grew in popularity, London Fashion Week also began to attract huge names including Diana, Princess of Wales, Boy George and Madonna.

LFW also relocated again, to the neighbouring trade exhibition at Olympia, which had a large designer showroom space which could accommodate everyone involved.

Between 1988 and 1989, Britain’s fashion stars Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss made their runway debuts at LFW, before going on to become the hugely famous names they are today.