London Fashion Week Returns With McQueen, Mulberry and a Stronger Home Calendar

A week that suddenly looks busy again

London Fashion Week opens on Thursday 17 September and runs through Monday 21 September, with a schedule the British Fashion Council has worked to thicken after seasons that leaned too hard on Burberry alone.

The headline returns are McQueen, showing Seán McGirr’s London debut for menswear and womenswear, and Mulberry, where Christopher Kane unveils his first collection as creative director.

Who else is on the boards

The official calendar again lists Barbour, Burberry, Emilia Wickstead, Erdem, Harris Reed, Richard Quinn, Roksanda and Simone Rocha, alongside experimental names such as Chopova Lowena, KNWLS and Paolo Carzana. NEWGEN designers including Francesca Lake, Gui Rosa and Petra Fagerström make official debuts.

BFC chief executive Laura Weir has argued that London needed a schedule international editors could not skip. The returns of heritage houses are the proof of that push.

What would count as success

Orders, not only applause. If McQueen and Mulberry can make London feel commercially necessary again, the week’s revival will last beyond one season. The clothes will start arriving on Thursday. The verdict will follow the writing-up on Monday night.