What is London Fashion Week and can you get tickets?

All your burning LFW questions answered

What is London Fashion Week, exactly?

London Fashion Week spring/summer 2017 is fast approaching. One of the most exciting times of the year in the fashion calendar, fashion journalists, buyers, press and bloggers assemble to see the exciting new collections from top brands from Burberry to Alexander McQueen, discover changing trends and scout out brilliant new designer labels. This 5-day showcase kicks off on September 16th and runs until September 20th.

What does London Fashion Week mean for you?

Armed with this information, you’ve panic dry-cleaned your best outfit and learnt your Instagram filters inside out, so now what? If you don’t work in the fashion industry, LFW can seem like an elusive occasion. For some, its bi-annual existence is obvious only by virtue of the curiously clad individuals who flock to London’s Soho in a flurry of fabric. 

If you neither move nor shake in the industry, it’s exceptionally tough to get into the shows (unless you have a *fashion blog). Despite the fact that fashion month is becoming increasingly inclusive – last September French fashion house Givenchy offered 820 free tickets to the public to watch its spring/summer 2016 show in New York, while young French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus offered 40 members of the public the opportunity to attend his Paris Fashion Week show, simply by entering their email address into a prize draw on his website – if you don’t work in fashion or have your own blog, there are many other ways to get involved in the shows, activities and celebrity-spotting taking place across the city that don’t involve ever having to use the line ‘Don’t you know who I am?’ 

You can also watch the shows rooftop-cinema style

Last season the British Fashion Council teamed up with Ocean Outdoor – who specialise in large-format digital billboards – to stream show footage at 60 outdoor locations across the UK including Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester. They’ll be doing this again this season but the details are all still hush-hush for now. Check our the official LFW digital schedule too, as some shows can be streamed live from the comfort of your own couch.

Or hit up Regent Street

Regent Street are getting involved in all the fashion month excitement with a range of activities including: the chance to be sketched by a famous fashion illustrator, attend talks from leading voices in the fashion world (including fashion designers Henry Holland and Amanda Wakeley), and have your purchases made bespoke at a ‘customisation station’ by an up-and-coming designer.

What is London Fashion Weekend?

Following London Fashion Week’s 5 days of shows and splashy parties, an open-to-the-public series of events called London Fashion Weekend kicks off and yes, you can buy tickets. What does it entail? As well as trend and career talks from industry experts (this season’s style icons and fashion insiders include chef Laura Jackson, TV presenter George Lamb, stylist Martha Ward and fashion editor Alice Casely-Hayford), intimate Q&A interviews, panel discussions with industry experts, and catwalk shows, you can shop over 150 fashion editor approved brands. So far, the designer catwalk shows you can get a front row seat at include Preen, J. JS Lee and Sibling. Tickets start at £20 for the basic experience package, and reach up to £200 for a ‘premium’ package. 

*If you’re a fashion blogger, this is what you need to do:

You can register on the London Fashion Week site to attend the official show if you have a popular fashion blog. You’ll need to come armed with examples of your fashion content, prove your support and interest in British designers and have some pretty big visitor and social media stats (over 10,000 unique visitors each month and over 10,000 combined followers on all social media platforms including Instagram, Twitter and on Facebook).