London Fashion Week AW22: Originality, Diversity & Inclusivity

e are always on the lookout for inspiration, and what better way for our designers to get their forthcoming trend fix, than from London Fashion Week. LFW was back with a bang last month to showcase all the must see looks of the coming AW22 season. The show was a display of originality and inclusivity, giving fashion insiders a glimpse into what trends are to come later this year.  

Ozwald Boateng

Nowhere was the display of diversity and inclusivity more relevant than Ozwald Boateng's show at the Savoy Theatre, celebrating UK Black excellence. For his first show in 14 years, the Saville Row original was joined by the likes of Idris Elba and Dizzee Rascal to join his ensemble of friends singing and dancing a live acapella celebration of Soul II Soul’s ‘Back to Life’. Boateng spoke at the show saying,

‘When I made the decision to be a designer, I never spoke about the issues I faced because I didn’t want my race to define what I do, especially as I was the only person of colour in the room’ ... Now, we’re in a world where we can have conversations about it all, and it’s a beautiful thing’.

Boateng returned for LFW to celebrate the contribution of Black British culture in the UK. Bringing together the worlds of fashion, music, and art into one room. It was a star-studded affair, celebrating not only fashion, but black history.

Harris Reed

Harris Reed, the American Central Saint Martins graduate kicked off London Fashion Week Thursday night with an intimate presentation at the Saint John Evangelist Church. Having only graduated in 2020, the February 2022 collection was the first to be developed in a functioning studio with the previous collections having been created at school or home by Reed.

Reed’s show was centred around gender fluidity, and featured vocals from Sam Smith.

Nensi Dojaka

Having already scooped up The LVMH Prize and the British Fashion Council's Foundation Award for emerging talent, the Albanian designer Nensi Dojaka hosted one of the most anticipated shows of the season. Dojaka’s sexy aesthetic of barely-there dresses and sharp tailoring was a crowd pleaser, enlisting plus size model Paloma Elsesse, as well as pregnant model Maggie Maurer.

Business of Fashion dubbed the event "one of the week's most anticipated runways," attended by editors, influencers and British "It" models, who braved London's red weather storm alert on Saturday to attend.

Richard Quinn

Richard Quinn also made headlines this week with his A/W show by taking florals to a whole new level.  The show was also an opportunity to find joy in life after the pause of the pandemic. The Peckham-based designer decorated the catwalk at Pimlico’s Royal Hall, transforming the room from floor to the ceiling with pink draping, a pink carpet and flora and fauna borders, with crystal chandeliers held up by men in latex gimp suits. Quinn wanted the show to present the audience with a performance with his clothes forming part of an experience rather than singled out as the sole focus.

Entire floral looks saw models in matching skirts, skin-tight polo-necks, tights, globes, bags, shoes, and hats.  With more elaborate pieces like structured suits with stiff peplums embellished with floral beading – a display of Quinn’s masterful couture-inspired craftmanship. For AW22, a series of 1960s-style cocoon coats and large structured hats, both in Quinn’s trademark graphic floral print, opened the show, and the collection became more avant-garde as each model emerged from backstage.

Other highlights included Yuhan Wang, Supriya Lele and 16 Arlington who paid tribute to late designer Federica Cavenati.

London's vast array of exhibitions offer a huge amount of inspiration to our teams across design, product development and production. To understand how these creative exhibitions have informed Studio 104's bespoke uniform projects head to our portfolio page. For our detailed and unique process, from uniform concept to manufacture and delivery, head to our process page.

View more Design Inspiration articles:

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CHINTZ: COTTON IN BLOOM EXHIBITION

‍Written by Esme – Studio Admin Assistant

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