London Fashion Week has always had a rebellious do-it-yourself spirit when it comes to emerging talent (courtesy of the city’s top-tier design schools; see Phoebe Philo, Simone Rocha, and Grace Wales Bonner, all of whom studied at Central Saint Martins). However, there’s a new wave of female British designers—Talia Byre, Johanna Parv, Yasmina Atta, Lucila Safdie, and Ronan McKenzie—who are forgoing the relentless seasonal structure, where cash-strapped young designers are expected to deliver two runway shows per year, and are instead forging intimate new ways of capturing the hearts and minds of their devoted following, from pop-up shops to panel discussions.
Shoestring budgets are no barrier for these determined young women, who all praise London’s hustle culture and creative scene. Invoking a delicate balancing act between fantasy and reality, they craft striking visions of femininity that are changing what we expect from fashion, imbuing their aesthetic, intellectual, and emotional sensibilities into each garment. Their mission? To create clothes that speak to how women want to feel: sexy, protected, powerful, boyish, undone, playful, comfortable, or elegant, depending on the day.