A wave of British fashion designers is descending on LA this month, both established names (like Burberry and Victoria Beckham) and up-and-comers (Peter Pilotto and David Koma).
Instead of the organised London Showrooms that had been bringing emerging talent here twice a year since 2011, subsidised by funds from the British government, this season designers are on their own for trunk shows, dinners and meet-and-greets with fashion stylists.
The objective is the same: celebrity dressing — for Coachella, awards shows and beyond. The designers’ increased visibility is a sign of how much the British fashion scene has grown up and how crucial Hollywood is to building brand awareness worldwide.
In recent days, Stella McCartney, Marios Schwab and KTZ’s Marjan Pejoski have all been in town. Beckham and Burberry hosted events, and Jenny Packham held appointments at the Chateau Marmont. On Monday, Mary Katrantzou and MatchesFashion.com plan to have a dinner to launch the designer’s new A to Z tote bag collection, and at the end of the month, designer Christopher Kane and MyTheresa.com will host a dinner one night, and London-based fashion e-tailer Net-a-porter will host one the next.
London’s focus on LA seems to be paying off, with British designers creating some of the most memorable red carpet fashion moments of the last few months, from Rosario Dawson in Roksanda Ilincic’s spring 2015 colour-blocked Pembroke dress, to Emily Blunt in Peter Pilotto’s spring 2015 embroidered black sheath.
And it’s not just the clothes that are getting tongues wagging. Supermodel Naomi Campbell made a surprise appearance on the runway at Burberry’s show, shocking the star-studded crowd at the brand’s catwalk show at the Griffith Observatory on Thursday, when she joined Charlotte Wiggins and Sam Rollinson on the runway.
Fellow Burberry models Cara Delevingne and Suki Waterhouse turned out to support their friends and were spotted sitting on the front row alongside actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
The Beckham family members were also out in full force to see creative director Christopher Bailey’s latest creations with three-year-old Harper taking pride of place on her father David’s knee next to US Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
