The World Watches …… Again

This week sees London once again stake its claim as the fashion capital of the world, as London Collections: Men returns for the second time and is now firmly part of the international menswear calendar.

After a year of Jubilee Celebrations and the Olympics, you would think London would retire gracefully from the spotlight, not when it comes to fashion though. London continues to become the luxury brand capital of the world, with the likes of Tom Ford basing his brand headquarters here and even doing his first ever all-singing-all-dancing fashion show in February’s London Fashion Week.

People are starting to realise that the fashion industry is big business and it is worth mentioning that it contributes £37 billion to the British economy, whilst also supporting 820,000 jobs.

During last June’s premier London Collections, we saw over 60 catwalk shows and presentations over a three day period. Buyers flocked from all over the world to see what Britain had to offer.

It is fair to say that last June’s shows did not disappoint. They started off with a dinner hosted by none other than Tom Ford, then Calvin Klein and GQ joined forces and hosted a dinner at the brand new Bulgari Hotel. Mr Porter and Jimmy Choo also came together with Esquire to throw one hell of a party at the Corinthia Hotel, not forgetting there was even a reception at St James’s Palace hosted by Prince Charles, all of this was wrapped up by a party on the roof of Selfridges thrown by Tinie Temper. Not bad in just three days and it had the fashion world full of buzz and confusion as to which event they should attend. The big question on everyones lips is ‘how do we follow that?’

Last night the second London Collections: Men kicked off with a drinks reception hosted by Harvey Nichols and tonight we see Esquire join forces with Tommy Hilfiger, which takes place at the Zetter Town House with Jamie Hince taking to the decks and is sure to be a highlight.

Tomorrow (Tuesday 8th) we see Richard James once again take to the catwalk with other shows including Mr Porter and Rake. The highlight however has to be the Savile Row Show at Spencer House, styled by none other then GQ’s Jo Levin, it is expected to really show what Britain is about, with a variety of quintessentially British scenes and real men as the models.

Wednesday will see shows and presentations from E. Tautz and Hardy Amies. In the evening Sir Paul Smith, Tinie Temper and Dylan Jones are sure to be toasting a job well done as they host their private dinner. All of this will be wrapped up by Tom Ford’s event at 10pm.

Who’s Excited?

londoncollections.co.uk