London Fashion Week AW25: A Recap Of This Season’s Highlights

Noticed flocks of well-dressed Londoners migrating around the city this week? That’s right, London Fashion Week is back for another round of shows, with designers showcasing their AW25 creations for the style set. Intrigued to know what went on? We’ve rounded up all the highlights.

London Fashion Week AW25: The Highlights

E.L.V. Denim

Making its London Fashion Week debut this season – as the first fully upcycled brand on-schedule, no less – E.L.V. Denim used its presentation slot to showcase just what goes on behind the scenes. Bringing its studio to Regent Street, the brand showed how its garments are made (with its actual craftspeople doing the making) using materials handpicked from vintage warehouses around the UK. A stand-out piece from E.L.V. Denim’s AW25 collection was a white, hand-crocheted evening gown, made from upcycled bed sheets provided by 1 Hotel Mayfair.

E.L.V. Denim AW25

Harris Reed

London Fashion Week’s first celebrity sighting comes courtesy of Florence Pugh, who opened Harris Reed’s AW25 show with a performance monologue – two years after she fist opened the designer’s show for AW23.

This season, Reed was drawn to punk references and rebellious self-expression, as well as the dialogue created by contrasts of strength and vulnerability. Looks were designed to echo armour and architectural structures – spikes and waves, crinoline cages and metallic finishes – with ‘urchin fronds’ designed by British artist Porta Romana growing into a protective shell around the body. Between the spikes and hard lines, however, Reed offered glimpses of bodily curves, with unexpected cut-outs and underwear staples reframed as outerwear.

Harris Reed AW25 (c) Jason Lloyd-Evans

Paul Costelloe

Day 2 kicked off bright and early with Paul Costelloe, who brought his heritage brand, Paul Costelloe Dressage, to the runway for AW25. A love letter to British equestrianism, the collection drew on fabrics from Magees of Ireland and Harris of Scotland. Classic tweeds and herringbones were crafted into dramatic overcoats, capes and feminine co-ords, while the brand’s in-house team brought to life a hand-painted narrative print depicting the art of dressage.

MITHRIDATE

Making his runway debut as the Creative Director of MITHRIDATE, Daniel Fletcher truly put his stamp on the brand’s next (exciting) chapter. The designer’s goal with his first collection with the brand was to bridge the gap between British heritage and Chinese craftsmanship, with an emphasis on British sartorial staples; tailored coats, knitted jumpers and scarves, ball gowns and striped shirts all made an appearance. Fletcher also created a number of styles inspired by the eighties and noughties, cast in sickly pastels and preppy hues, as a means of challenging the idea of bad taste. Exploratory, playful and underpinned by exceptional craft, this was just a glimpse of MITHRIDATE’s new era.

MITHRIDATE AW25

Bora Aksu

With the rain pouring down over London, it felt only fitting that Bora Aksu’s dialogue on the interconnections of tragedy and beauty be backdropped by the worst of the week’s weather. Inspiration this season came from Austria, where Aksu came across Empress Elisabeth’s struggles with the rigidities of the imperial court – as well as emotive vibrant of painter Egon Schiele. Aksu imagined how the artist would have depicted the empress, crafting her image in swirls of lace, intricate veils and deep shades of red, purple and pink.

Bora Aksu AW25 (c) Jason Lloyd-Evans

Temperley London

This season also marked a new era for Alice Temperley MBE, whose AW25 collection ‘La Victoire’ was a tribute to elegant rebellion. Taking inspiration from the Napoleonic era, Temperley wove her signature embroidery and hand-painted motifs with military detailing such as medal motifs, tassels and sharp tailoring underpinned by gothic romance.

Temperley London AW25 (c) Max Cisotti/Dave Benett/Getty Images

Mark Fast

Dreams took on a gothic shape for Mark Fast’s AW25 runway show. Built around themes of vampiric immortality, gothic romance and 80s new wave youth culture, the designer offered a new take on the Mark Fast Woman: someone who is ‘both elegant and unpredictable, daring yet sentimental, rebellious yet wrapped in romance.’ A collection of contrasts, models walked down the runway in swathes of velvet and sheer layers, corsets and flowing skirts, soft curves and sharp tailoring.

Mark Fast AW25 (c) Iker Aldama

Richard Quinn

Escaping from the pouring rain outdoors, guests to Richard Quinn’s runway show were greeted with a familiar scene: a traditional London street (thankfully without the drizzle). Building upon the theatricality of his presentations, the designer filled his cinematic streetscape with powdery snow, vintage streetlamps and chic townhouse façade – in what he dubbed a ‘love letter’ to the capital.

His collection, meanwhile, similarly played on themes of big screen-worthy romance and glamour, in a celebration of ‘dressing up, heading out… And back home again.’ Models padded down the snow-strewn runway in floral capes, opera gloves and crystal-laced gowns that caught the light with every step (and echoed the soft sparkle of freshly laid snow). An incredibly dreamy collection designed to inspire joy in its wearer.

Richard Quinn AW25

Edeline Lee

Backdropped by the lavish interiors of The Dorchester Hotel, a quiet breakfast kicked off Edeline Lee’s AW25 show. But the calm didn’t last for long. Two women soon burst through the doors, rapiers in hand, and began to battle it out in the middle of the room. They’re followed by groups of women in hand-to-hand combat and performing kendo – all to the march of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s ‘Heads Will Roll, Indiana’s ‘Solo Dancing’ and Chappell Roan‘s ‘Femininomenon’. The sequence was choreographed by fight director Kate Waters and and film director Josie Rourke, who ensured each match ended with nods and handshakes – a ‘good work’ message for all the women fighting to succeed.

‘I was thinking about all the powerful women in my life, and it struck me how actively we support each other whether that’s professionally or in our personal lives,’ said Edeline Lee. ‘In my experience, women don’t fight each other, we train each other to fight, we share our knowledge and experience – we challenge each other, but we have each other’s backs.’

The collection itself, meanwhile, built on Lee’s signature codes of dress, with flowing silhouettes, textural skirts and sleeves (helped by tassels, balloon shaping and sequins) and a calming colour palette of neutrals. ‘My clothes equip women with confidence,’ highlights Lee. ‘I want them to feel they can do or face anything.’

Edeline Lee AW25 (c) Anna Francesca Jennings

Huishan Zhang

While known for celebrating femininity in his collections, Huishan Zhang’s AW25 presentation also delved into gender-fluid dressing in an expression of mid-century modernity. With mood boards littered with images of model Edie Sedgwick and the 1967 film Valley of the Dolls, the designer sought to create luxurious pieces that ‘explode’ into rebellious results. Zhang’s signature feminine finishes (floral brocade, bows and crystals) are off dramatic proportions, clashing fabrics and colours – as well as structured tailoring and tweeds, highlighting the designer’s play on masculine and feminine ideals.

Huishan Zhang AW25

Sinéad O’Dwyer

For her final LFW show as part of the British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN cohort, Sinéad O’Dwyer created a retrospective commemorating the evolution of her practice over the last four years. But while the designer touched familiar visual codes – hand-interlaced tights and trousers, belted silhouettes and refined colour clashing – as well as the ‘characters’ that O’Dwyer created each season. But this wasn’t just a rehash of the past. The designer took the opportunity to push the brand’s visual language to its most elevated form yet with the addition of structures shirting, libidinal leatherwork and spiral-seamed denim.

Sinéad O’Dwyer AW25

KENT&CURWEN

Transition and reinvention were key themes on the KENT&CURWEN runway this season, used to explore the idea of crossing thresholds – both as child entering adulthood, and the evolution of tradition itself. Taking inspiration from C.S. Lewis’ childhood adventures in Northern Ireland, Chief Creative Officer Daniel Kearns delved into modes of storytelling through the act of dressing up – with oversized silhouettes and playful detailing echoing the image of children pulling on their parents’ clothes to play pretend. And, while rooted in British heritage styles (such as tailored blazers, trench coats and sportswear), the collection challenged familiar codes of dress with ‘intentionally undone’ stylistic choices. These included exaggerated shoulders, rugby hems extended into babydoll dresses, laminated tartans and disrupted patterns like herringbone, argyle and sporting stripes.

More From LFW

For more information on the London Fashion Week AW25 schedule, see our guide here or visit londonfashionweek.co.uk

Featured image: E.L.V. Denim AW25 (c) Sophie Holden, British Fashion Council