London Fashion Week hopes to usher in new era with leadership change

London: London Fashion Week, which is under new leadership after 16 years, opens Thursday with hopes of reinvigorating its runway schedule and easing...

London: London Fashion Week, which is under new leadership after 16 years, opens Thursday with hopes of reinvigorating its runway schedule and easing the financial woes of its young designers.

"This season marks... the beginning of a new era for British fashion," said Laura Weir, former creative director of luxury department store Selfridges, who replaced Caroline Rush as the head of the British Fashion Council (BFC) in April.

Weir faces an uphill battle to allay concerns about the relevance and international standing of the fashion week, with the departure in recent years of big fashion names to its star-studded counterparts in Milan, Paris and New York.

"My main objective is to ensure London Fashion Week remains the ultimate platform to showcase and celebrate the very best of British creativity while continuing to support designers who have built the foundations of British fashion and forged paths internationally," Weir told AFP ahead of LFW.

LFW's June edition, initially launched to focus on menswear, was cancelled this year and replaced by a simple commercial showroom in Paris.