London Fashion Week

London Fashion Week is an apparel trade show held in London, England twice each year, in February and September. It is one of the "Big Four" fashion weeks, along with New York Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week.

Organisation
London Fashion Week at Somerset House in LondonOrganised by the British Fashion Council (BFC) for the London Development Agency with help from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, London Fashion Week first took place in 1984. It currently ranks alongside New York, Paris and Milan as one of the 'Big Four' fashion weeks.[1] It presents itself to funders[2] as a trade event that also attracts significant press attention and benefit to taxpayers. It is also able to get an official sponsership from Mercedes-Benz[3], a worldwide known automobile brand. It states that it is attended by over 5,000 press and buyers, and has estimated orders of 40m[4] or 100m.[5] A retail-focused event, London Fashion Weekend, takes place immediately afterwards at the same venue and is open to the general public.[6]

The current venue for most of the "on-schedule" events is Somerset House in central London, where a large marquee in the central courtyard hosts a series of catwalk shows by top designers and fashion houses,[7] while an exhibition, housed within Somerset House itself, shows over 150 designers.[8] However, many "off-schedule" events, such as Vauxhall Fashion Scout and On|Off, are organised by other private-funded groups and take place at other venues in central London.[