Did Someone Say "Fashion Week"?

By Rob Last edited 222 months ago
Did Someone Say "Fashion Week"?
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Here we go again then with London Fashion Week.

Don't get us wrong, we have nothing against fashion (although it may have a few questions to ask us one day, but that's a different matter). It's just LFW brings up the same tired old debates every year.

For example: fur. Yes, we've already had our first London Fashion Week Disrupted by Protestors headline, and things only kicked off yesterday.

PETA members were escorted out of Julian Macdonald's show at the Natural History Museum yesterday after they jumped all over his catwalk. They said: "Heartless greedy designers like Julien Macdonald may not care about electrocuting animals and ripping off their fur for fashion, but decent compassionate people do."

He said: "There are far more important things to worry about like the tsunami and what happened in New Orleans than worrying about a fur coat and a dead animal."

So far, so predictable. Isn't it time the fur protestors got themselves a new modus operandi? At least Heather McCartney had the good sense to go and upset J-Lo.

So what else happened? Well the organisers pulled out the big guns in the form of Linda 'not getting out of bed for less than ten grand' Evangelista, who, we can only assume, has dropped her financial standards a little since her heyday.

Linda opened the show at the NHM yesterday, before slipping away to "host an Aids charity party for the cosmetics firm MAC, where she shared the spotlight with the London Mayor, Ken Livingstone," (who we hope didn't get paid anywhere near ten grand to turn up).

But the 'London isn't as important as it used to be' attitude is still prevalent. The Telegraph, for example, argued that it should have been Kate Moss instead of Canadian Linda who opened the week (if it weren't for the marching powder stories of course).

To try and combat this age-old attitude LFW's organisers have tried a new angle. Staging the opening at the NHM was part of an attempt to bring a notoriously elite event closer to the 'general public', and they even went as far as turning the Millennium Bridge into a catwalk this weekend.

But the big winner of the weekend seems to have been Top Shop. The high street favourite will hold it's 'Unique' show tonight, becoming the first retailer of its kind to put on an official fashion week show, and 'fashion insiders' and the press alike are loving it

According to the Observer tickets for the show are in big demand and "avid 'Topshopians' Madonna, Erin O'Connor, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Moss have been invited to put in an appearance in the front row."

The Independent seems to have shares in the chain, with stories on how it's 'top of the fashion world' and profiles of brand director, Jane Sheperdson popping up in recent additions.

But for a deeper insight into Fashion Week though you have to go to the Sun, where the real issues are uncovered: women have nipples and cricketers like beer.

Last Updated 19 September 2005