Having just confirmed my travel plans for
Paris Premiere Vision Pluriel - the international trade fairs for fashion and textile industry trends, due to take place 14-16 September, coinciding with
Texworld (also in Paris 13-16 Sept.) I'm pleased to note that
London Fashion Week will take place Friday 17th - Wed. 22nd September, at Somerset House. A provisional schedule has just been announced and registration is now open.
The schedule reveals newcomers, Swedish fashion design house Acne and SS11 NewGen designers Michael Van Der Ham, David Koma and Holly Fulton, all making their on schedule debuts. Giles has confirmed he too will show in London marking a return following two seasons in Paris. Designers also confirmed to show on schedule for a third consecutive season include Burberry Prorsum, Matthew Williamson, Pringle of Scotland, Antonio Berardi and Jonathan Saunders.
Talking about
London, in the news recently were discussions questioning whether the capital could be viewed as a different country from the rest of the UK. With a population of 7.5 million people, speaking over 300 languages, Londoners try to live together in a city that has a population density ten times higher than anywhere else in the UK, but is the greenest city of its size in the world, with two thirds covered in green space or water. A city that comes fourth on the global list of number of billionaires and generates 20% of the UK's GDP, yet has a higher proportion of people living below the poverty line than anywhere else in the country.
But the world loves to come to London to shop.
Sterling's weakness continued to attract overseas visitors, especially from western Europe, China and the Middle East. Tourists were more cautious but attracted by clearance discounts.
Clothing and footwear sales were mixed. The hot weather and clearance events helped, but some people had already bought in May's sun.
Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, has reported that retail sales in central London in June were 14.4% higher on a like-for-like basis than a year ago, when sales had risen 3.5%. Earlier clearance sales this year, the hot weather and stronger consumer confidence than in the UK helped boost sales. Retail footfall fell back in June to below its year-earlier level, after a small year-on-year increase in May. People preferred to watch the World Cup and Wimbledon rather than travel to shop in the hot weather.
“These are impressive results – the strongest London sales growth since October 2006. The heat and sports events meant fewer people were out shopping in central London, but they were spending more per visit. Customers in the capital are less pessimistic than the rest of the UK and significantly less so than this time last year. The weak pound is still attracting tourists. Clearance sales were another major factor. Many were earlier so new season ranges were ready for Middle Eastern visitors before they return home for an earlier Ramadan," said Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, "Economic uncertainty combined with the VAT increase and public sector job cuts on the way, suggest growth of this magnitude is unlikely to continue.”
Helen Dickinson, Head of Retail, KPMG, said: "A similar trend to last month, highlighting that London’s consumers are currently being less impacted than those in the rest of the country in terms of levels of confidence about the future. High levels of promotional activity in some of the larger destination stores helped drive footfall and sales. The comparison with weak results last year also helped boost performance and, while the World Cup did impact performance on individual days and provide a welcome uplift for some, it did not shift overall spending patterns much one way or the other."
