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| Charli XCX in H&M's AW24 campaign. Credits: H&M. |
London Fashion Week Heats up with H&M x Charli XCX's Most Anticipated Party
Already heavily populated with exciting shows, running until Tuesday, London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2025 will shake up this Thursday, boasting one of the most highly-anticipated parties by high-street retailer H&M and pop star Charli XCX. This late addition has caused quite a stir within the industry, sending even the biggest names into the shade.
"Forget the luxury shows. The only ticket anyone cares about is one to the H&M party," declared London's The Standard newspaper. "It is the hottest London Fashion Week ticket" according to The Times.
It follows the mania of the "brat girl summer" phenomenon, inspired by last month's success of Charli XCX's hyper-pop album "Brat." The album has birthed a cultural movement-one that fuses party-girl with angsty-youngster overtones-taking over social media, politics, and now, fashion.
"It's exciting to be collaborating with H&M during LFW's 40th anniversary this year," Caroline Rush, Chief Executive of the British Fashion Council, said in a statement. The BFC is clearly looking for ways to remain relevant to younger audiences against the challenges of losing designers in droves over the last several years.
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The following week, 72 designers will showcase their collections, among them LFW staples like JW Anderson, Erdem, Paul Costelloe, Burberry-to name just a few-along with their emerging talents. Many of the young designers will make appearances at the BFC's NEWGEN space for up-and-coming talent.
Funding challenges have also meant that some designers - the cult favorite Dilara Findikoglu among them - have been noticeably absent from the last couple of fashion weeks. "It is a challenging time for the industry, particularly for small independents," said Rush, who cited the pandemic and post-Brexit shipping fees as complications.
With sustainability-focused shows also on the agenda, LFW hopes it will be able to cater for a broad raft of events that reflect both the creativity of the industry and the challenges it currently faces.
Pre-Loved: The Rise of Sustainable Fashion
Sustainable fashion is now playing a huge role, particularly in an industry infamous for its environmental damage. Fashion is one of the world's biggest polluters, and only just recently did a report by non-profit organization Collective Fashion Justice find that less than four percent of British Fashion Council (BFC) members have ever set an emission reduction target.
Fashion retailers such as H&M, Shein, and Zara have been under fire for churning out low-cost garments in high volumes to keep up with the constant flux of trends, often at the cost of environmental and labor protections.
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In the lead-up to London Fashion Week, H&M purged its old Instagram posts and published a single new image: a photo of Charli XCX modeling a leopard-print coat from their latest collection. It was a flashy rebranding through which the brand seemed to position itself as something more premium. But to some on social media, the marketing move recalled the worst of fast fashion's disposable ethos-ditch what's old to make way for the new.
H&M says it is committed to minimizing waste, including by using recycled materials in its products. And in a first for the retailer, it will be sharing center stage on opening night at LFW with not one, but two "pre-loved" runway shows aimed at advocating slow and circular fashion.
Charity Oxfam has partnered with online second-hand marketplace Vinted to host a show in which the fashion is passed on and recycled, while online auction platform eBay makes its first-time "Endless Runway" catwalk appearance, in high-fashion pre-loved clothes that will immediately be available to buy on their live shopping platform. This all reflects an increasingly sustainable modern fashion direction-one in which it is encouraged to embrace slow fashion, and cut back on the waste.