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As London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2025 comes to a close in the capital, our features editor takes us behind the scenes and shares his highlights from this season’s shows.
It seems as though I managed to save the best until last when it came to this season’s London Fashion Week shows. Having started off in the basement of 180 The Strand, in central London, for my first show, it seemed apt to finish with a rooftop runway show with views across the capital on a sunny day.
While the collections and their designers remain at the centre of everyone’s interest at London Fashion Week, this season I seem to have been drawn to the variety of locations that my show schedule took me. On some show days, I’d start in the heart of the city, before heading westwards towards a church near Hyde Park, then east towards the Protein Studios in Shoreditch, and then back into the centre to Freemasons Hall in Covent Garden. It’s arguably somewhat of a marathon, which is why those who have mastered this art will either be wearing comfortable, yet chic, footwear, or will have some backup trainers on standby in their tote bags. Perhaps dispelling the myth that fashionistas only strut around town in six inch heels during fashion week.
As with every season, the shows didn’t start on time and London’s public transport network didn’t always prove to be the most reliable for travelling between shows. This resulted in lunch being skipped and full bladders being made to wait (a potentially disastrous combination whilst power walking between shows). But it’s all part of the fashion week experience after all.
Plus, some shows really pulled out all the stops with their goodie bags this season. We thought we’d hit the jackpot as a few of us assembled in a coffee shop between shows, cracking open the salted popcorn one PR firm had kindly gifted to us. The complimentary bottle of fragrance was put aside; it wasn’t going to keep us from collapsing from hunger, now was it? A friend then told me that at one show she’d attended the day before, everyone was given a free bottle of gin each! My jealousy was short lived, however, when I attended midday shows the following days that were serving free tequila and vodka. I suppose it’s one way to keep an audience happy, as they wait for the show to start. We await to see how skilled the Instagram influencers are at taking videos of the shows after a skinful, though.
There were some expected moments too. Gone are the days of fashion week being just about sitting on a bench and watching models glide down the runway to loud music – the designers want their shows to be memorable, and if free alcohol isn’t available, then the element of surprise will certainly do.
At the LUEDER show, a dancer with a Venetian masquerade mask appeared out of nowhere and began twisting his body into all directions, lunging towards audience members and making them jump, as models walked past on the runway. This was followed by a slow-walking model wearing large rusted chains around his neck and moaning, whilst other models overtook him. One model during the Shino show broke out into song and began twizzling a folding fan around their index finger, which seems to have caught the audience off guard. And at the Sagaboi show, a drone hovered overhead, as models walked across the rooftop bar that had been turned into a catwalk.
Fashion week is also about reconnecting with those who we only see during fashion season, as well as meeting new people. “It’s like our little fashion family,” said one friend who I met a few seasons ago in a queue outside a show. We’re editors, designers, stylists, photographers, models, buyers, PR execs and, of course, social media influencers and celebrities. Despite the front row being once a spot reserved exclusively for the fashion elite, the fluidity of those who have the honour of being seated there is also apparent and varies from show to show. You might be seated on the front row of one show, and seated on the third row for another; there’s sometimes no rhyme or reason. Yet I think it’s important to remember that the privilege of being invited to these shows, and seeing these collections in person, should never be lost sight of. That said, the front row is the best place to film your Instagram Reels.
As London Fashion Week comes to a close, the fashion wheel doesn’t stop turning. Milan Fashion Week is next on the list, and having just picked up some euros on my way home from my last show in London, I will be in the Italian fashion capital by the end of this week. A presto, Milano!
Cover photo features show looks from the Karina Bond show, courtesy of the POP Group.
