London Fashion Week 2023: All the 5 Best Fashion Shows

Discover the best runway collections that stood out at London Fashion Week.

Due to the sudden passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, London Fashion Week’s (LFW) Spring 2023 offering was slightly scaled back, with some of the top designers, such as Burberry and Raf Simons, rescheduling their shows for October while others went ahead. Some of these designers paid tribute to The Majesty like JW Anderson’s final look: a black T-shirt dress with “Her Majesty The Queen” on the front. Others’ tributes were a bit subtler, as at Halpern, where the opening look came out without music.  It was a blue cape look with headscarf that paid homage to a 1957 ball gown the Queen wore to greet French President Charles de Gaulle. SS Daley had a candlelight vigil to close the show and Richard Quinn’s first half was an all-black funeral-inspired lineup.

Some of this season’s recurring looks proved to be a continuation of what was seen on the New York runways: bubble hems, seen at Christopher Kane and JW Anderson and exaggerated flared pants at Halpern and Dilara Findikoglu as well as dangerously low waists at David Koma to 1980s-style eveningwear at Molly Goddard.

London Fashion Week has kicked off with a bang and there were some highlights from both established and emerging brands. Read on to find out more about the shows you may have missed.

Nensi Dojaka RTW Spring 2023

Albanian designer Nensi Dojaka debuted its Spring 2023 collection during London Fashion Week. The line featured delicate, négliglée-like necklines, cut-out bodices, and curve-enhancing silhouettes. Models walked the runway showing off powerful personality/style while emanating the king of self-assured sexiness that comes with just knowing how beautiful you look. The designer also presented plenty of newness by way of shimmering sequin fabrics, going-out tops, flouncy mini-skirts, slinky lingerie-inspired bike shorts, and much more.

Stefan Cooke RTW Spring 2023

One of the most anticipated fashion brands – Stefan Cooke – presented its latest Spring 2023 collection at London Fashion Week. Stefan Cooke and his life and work partner Jake Burt showed off tightly compelling womenswear to offer for the first time. “We’ve been planning it for actually quite a long time and it felt right to do it. We wanted it to be really succinct, but also really tactile… It’s really amazing to actually do dressmaking. It’s more limitless and dynamic,” Cooke explained. The Designers introduced the well-known Miu Miu high-skirted minidress, twinset zip-up minis, denim and leather pants, zip, up off-white jackets, and much more.

Christopher Kane RTW Spring 2023

Creative Designer Christopher Kane is back for this Spring 2023 season. The designer presented his latest collection at London Fashion Week in the enormous Roundhouse venue in Camden. The show revisited many of Kane’s signature themes, including the mechanics and makeup of the human body, lingerie, and bodycon dressing. That’s why he presented a collection which was more of an anatomy class. Kane said he was thinking about “skeletal structures as an invisible shield, an armour. It was about protecting and dissecting the body and showing symbolical strength and power.”

JW Anderson RTW Spring 2023

JW Anderson unveiled its latest Spring 2023 at London Fashion Week, challenging our virtual existences in its latest collection. The designer has been asking himself the question lately “Are we falling into the screen? Are we becoming our phones?” – that’s why, for the current season, he showed off dresses adorned with computer keys or a futuristic metallic orb while shirts boasted screensaver-inspired images.  “I like this idea of a transient moment in time. I’ve been exploring this for several collections,”. He also added, “I think it’s really like an alternate universe, and there are layers and layers and layers to it. I think it’s probably about realism. I don’t think it’s about futurism. It’s more about a reflection of ourselves somehow.”

Simone Rocha RTW Spring 2023

Simone Rocha’s Spring 2023 collection featured parachute tapes threaded through dresses and big, bubble-bomber jackets. There were also lots of airy, pale white-beige-pink layers of tulle, deconstructed corsets, flounced veils, etc. “This collection was very much a reaction to the last few years. It was very harnessing an emotion that felt like this kind of powerful, feminine statement.” and added, “There’s definitely pieces within the collection that I think people will feel potentially a response to the current situation. Because my original inspiration, back at Central Saint Martins, was this old tradition of the people of the Aran Isles,”