London Fashion Week biannually hosts some of the most exciting emerging designers in the industry. This Spring 2024 season, Aaron Esh, Chet Lo, and those who showed under the umbrella of Fashion East showed us why it’s important to keep an eye out for less established names. The mainstays– 16Arlington, Emilia Wickstead, and Roksanda–each exhibited wearable yet inspiring collections we’d like to fold into our wardrobes as soon as Spring comes around the corner. Then, there are those almost guaranteed to knock the fashion wind right out of you. JW Anderson, Simone Rocha, and (my personal favorite) Erdem. Lest we forget London Fashion Week’s biggest name: Burberry, where Christopher Bailey re-emphasized the necessity of a trench coat in a modern fashion. Below, we’ve rounded up the overarching themes (some may call them trends) of the week to to help inspire you for next year's spring ensembles.
Haphazard Asymmetry
Asymmetric design is commonplace in many collections, but this season, designers added a haphazard energy to their off-kilter silhouettes, folding in extra materials and wonky cut-outs. We are currently obsessed with the way Erdem Moralioglu draped fabrics upon each other. Executing a similar idea in a totally different fashion, Molly Goddard scrunched up her khaki skirts, layered above ruffled white petticoats.
Babydoll Silhouettes
Photo: Daniele Oberrauch / Gorunway.com
Emilia Wickstead
Many designers engaged in saccharine sweetness with childlike, full-dress silhouettes. Chopova Lowena took a punk approach to this girly shape while Simone Rocha and Richard Quinn embraced an almost satirically feminine version.
Happy Halloween
Photo: Courtesy of KNWLS
KNWLS
Orange took center stage at London Fashion Week, showing up in the collections of designers from JW Anderson to David Koma. Some even reimagined a combination that would normally be subject to distaste: clashing orange and black together. Somehow, Emilia Wickstead made this look chic with simply tailored separates and cozy knits.
White Shirting
Photo: Eudon Choi
Eudon Choi
It’s always exciting to see a closet staple you already own exert its prowess on current runway collections. This season, the classic white shirt emerged as a key layering component in many outfit equations. Erdem debuted a winning look featuring a colored, bedazzled moto jacket over a button-down and a sheer column skirt. On the other side of the spectrum, Eudon Choi showed a similar shirt with a simple black skirt and accessories.
Corporate Gray
Molly Goddard
There’s a certain shade of gray that’s steeped in corporate stigma, whether we like it or not. So it’s fun to see designers take that stereotype and turn it on its head—specifically when it adds an unquantifiable sex appeal. Aaron Esh added a bubble-hemmed skirt to its tailored ensemble, while Molly Goddard added a contrasting white petticoat. Tove took both corporate color and its typical tailoring partner and transitioned them into a strapless dress.
Wired
Photo: Courtesy of JW Anderson
JW Anderson
JW Anderson always manages to wow us with his otherworldly silhouettes, but this season, he wasn’t the only one to do so. Anderson challenged the idea of a hoop skirt with a proportion-defying knit dress. While Huishan Zhang used construction wizardry to breathe life into their peplums.
Plumage
Photo: Courtesy of Tove
Tove
Designers toyed with feather embellishment in all forms for the Spring ‘24 collections. JW Anderson made his bombers look as if they were bursting at the seams with plumage stuffing, while 16Arlington layered simple knee-length skirts with elegant ostrich feathers. Roksanda even layered them upon their footwear.