London Fashion Week is now upon us. The five day show begins at 5pm 15 February and ends on 20 February with a few evening shows.

London Fashion Week Festival follows London Fashion Week from 22-25 February.

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Fashion Week is an invitation-only industry event whereas Fashion Week Festival is open to the public.

Shows, catwalks, and parties take place right across London but there are two main hubs. These are the Ambika P3 Show Space at the University of Westminster and the British Fashion Council Show Space on the Strand.

This year there are 112 scheduled events, with showings from 184 designers. Some of the major labels at this year’s show include Burberry, JW Anderson, Richard Malone and Mulberry.

The designs on show will be from each of the designers’ individual autumn/winter collections. Expect to see outfits inspired by these pieces on sale as of next September.

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Here’s everything you need to know about how to get into London Fashion week.

London Fashion Week

The most interesting element of this year’s London Fashion Week is the scarcity of major designers.

Topshop are not exhibiting at Fashion Week this year, nor are Emporio Armani, Versus or Tommy Hilfiger. Instead, the shows this year are populated by younger designers. The full schedule is available here.

Unfortunately for fashion fans, there don’t seem to be any plans to live-stream this year’s London Fashion Week. However, highlights will be posted here.

Still, there is a chance for semi-professionals to get a foot in the door. Bloggers and digital influencers can receive accreditation, but it’s hard work. Instagram influencers need to have 35,000 followers and post fashion-related content.

YouTubers need an average of 50,000 views per fashion video and 80,000 subscribers. Bloggers need 15,000 unique monthly visitors. Those who do so can request press tickets if they have evidence of the above.

At this year’s Fashion Week, the British Fashion Council are aiming to shine the spotlight on positive fashion. That covers sustainable fashion, healthy and diverse models, and local craftsmanship. Expect to see a lot of those themes coming up time and again this week.

London Fashion Week Festival

Considering this one is open to the public, there’s rather a lot more to say.

First of all, what is London Fashion Week Festival? Well, it’s a weekend festival that takes place the weekend after fashion week.

It allows fashion fans to get access to some of the major designers from the main Fashion Week. Plus, visitors can get their hands on the clothes at discounted prices.

So what is there to see and do at this year’s London Fashion Week Festival?

Tickets

There are five different ticket bands available at London Fashion Week Festival:

  • Standard tickets: from £20 – allow bearers to shop designers’ works and attend industry talks (thought talks must be booked in advance.)
  • Silver tickets: from £45 – allow bearers to shop designers’ works and attend industry talks (thought talks must be booked in advance.) They also get a free limited-edition tote bag and access to one catwalk show, either designer or trend.
  • Gold tickets: from £60 – allow bearers to shop designers’ works and attend industry talks (thought talks must be booked in advance.) The free tote bag is also included and bearers gain access to two catwalk shows, one designer and one trend.
  • Luxe tickets: from £145 – give bearers priority event access and give access to the Luxe Lounge and attend a Prosecco reception. They allow bearers to shop designers’ works and attend industry talks (thought talks must be booked in advance), get an exclusive style talk from an industry insider. Luxe ticket holders’ tote bags are filled with products. Finally, luxe ticket holders have a private till point so there’s less queuing to purchase designs.
  • Luxe Premium: from £200 – all the benefits of Luxe plus a Prosecco reception with Caroline Rush, CEO British Fashion Council, front row seats at a designer catwalk, and their Q&A with the designer is described as ‘intimate’.

Tickets are available here

Catwalks

There are two kinds of catwalk shows at this year’s Fashion Week. Catwalks are divided into designer and trend. Silver ticket holders will get access to one designer or trend catwalk. Gold ticket holders gain access to both a designer and a trend catwalk. And Luxe and Luxe Premium ticket holders get front-row seats at the trend and designer catwalks respectively.

Designer Catwalk Shows

Usually these shows are exclusively for professionals: stylists and fashion editors. However, London Fashion Week Festival has opened them up to ticket holders. These catwalks showcase the works of one particular designer each. Those designers are personally selected as the hottest creative minds at the festival by London Fashion Week bosses.

This year, there are four designers, one per day on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Each show will last approximately half an hour.

The designers showing at this year’s Fashion Week Festival are:

  • Zandra Rhodes (Thursday 22nd)
  • Jamie Wei Huang (Friday 23rd)
  • Nicopanda (Saturday 24th)
  • Juicy Couture (Sunday 25th)

Trend Catwalk shows

These catwalks focus on general trends rather than the works of one specific designer. They’ll give viewers a glimpse into the hottest trends of the Spring/Summer 2018 season.

The trend show will be the same on each day of the festival. It will cover the following areas:

  • Vintage vacation
  • New wave
  • Cyber sports

Talks

There are also plenty of industry talks where big names from the fashion industry and beyond will be giving their insight. These talks range from career advice to style advice.

The full list of talks can be found below:

Thursday 22 February

  • 3.00pm Food For Thought: Deliciously Ella
  • 4.30pm Sheerluxe Panel: Making The Trends Wearable

Friday 23 February

  • 1.00pm In Conversation With Daphne Guinness
  • 3.00pm Sheerluxe In Conversation With Trinny Woodall
  • 4.45pm Fashion Forecasting, Blogging, And Styling
  • 6.00pm Orla Kiely: A Life In Pattern, With The Fashion And Textile Museum

Saturday 24 February

  • 11.15am Careers In Fashion
  • 1.45pm How To Capture Your Audience In The Digital Age
  • 4.45pm Meet The Designer: Markus Lupfer

Sunday 25 February

  • 12.15pm Menswear Revolution: Darren Skey
  • 1.15pm The Revival Of Fiorucci: In Conversation With Janie Schaffer
  • 2.15pm In Conversation With Jim Chapman
  • 3.45pm The Gal-Dem Collective: How To Set Up An Independent Magazine
  • 4.45pm Toni&Guy: SS18 Hair Trends

There are also plenty of other activities at the festival, from massages to a pop-up bar.