Months of planning had led to this moment. Months of cajoling designers, models, endorsers and style observers to lend their support (and cash) to a previously unthinkable venture: showcasing the best of British fashion under one roof.
Or rather, a piece of canvas. As I watched the finishing touches being put on the gigantic tent that would host the first London Fashion Week, I felt a surge of pride and pure emotion.
I knew some had been skeptical, but as I stood behind this great new space, I hoped this was the start of something incredible.
Now, 40 years later, my wish has come true. London Fashion Week is an institution that many take for granted. However, back then, it seemed like a dream to have a central catwalk where young British designers could show their innovative collections, transmitting the waves of creativity emerging from the streets of London.
Lynne Franks, founder of Fashion Week, with designer Jean Paul Gaultier
Katharine Hamnett surprises Margaret Thatcher with her protest t-shirt that says “58% don’t want Pershing” (a reference to the US missile base in Britain) in 1984.
Buyers from New York’s best stores had been coming to London for years to snap up pieces by our more grown-up designers, such as the elegant Jean Muir, Bill Gibb and the brilliant Zandra Rhodes.
There were luxury groups exhibiting at different hotels on Park Lane, where they did group shows during the day and some independent ballroom events with gold chairs.
However, nothing had the dynamism of Paris or Milan, then the two world capitals of fashion, which had hosted shows for decades.
Yes, we run one-off events for individual designers; Wendy Dagworthy, a former client, reminded me how we chose the Playboy Club on Park Lane as a different venue for her first show in 1979, with the bunnies serving breakfast. A truly unique specimen!
But I wanted to show a lot more of the design talent that was bustling in London.
Running Britain’s largest fashion PR agency, I felt that if Paris could attract international media with its new catwalk tent in front of the Louvre, we could too.
Together with parade producer Mikel Rosen, I walked the streets looking for the right place to pitch a tent. Finally, we decided that the large green lawn in front of the Commonwealth Institute in Holland Park (now the Design Museum) would be a great location, with some additional space inside for the smaller exhibitions. But where would we find the money?
Kate Moss models for Matthew Williamson in 1997
Naomi Campbell flies the British flag at the Clements Ribeiro show in 1997
The newly formed British Fashion Council, made up of the great and good men in suits who ran the industry, was in its infancy, so had no budget to speak of.
Instead, I convinced my client Mohan Murjani, the Hong Kong jeans magnate behind Tommy Hilfiger and Gloria Vanderbilt, to give me £20,000 for what became known as the Murjani Tent at Fashion Week. From london.
The young designers, now icons, who chose to show at that electrifying first Fashion Week included Wendy, Jasper Conran, Sheridan Barnett, Betty Jackson, Katharine Hamnett and BodyMap.
There were about 25 shows planned, and the only setback came when all the designers fought for the same top spots. Finally, they calmed down and agreed to cooperate, knowing that just participating was exciting.
When the big day finally arrived, the international fashion media were fighting for seats. We knew we had a hit on our hands when I had to usher aggressive Italian shoppers from front-row seats reserved for A-listers like Vogue’s stylish Grace Coddington and Princess Diana’s favorite stylist, Anna Harvey.
Backstage was hectic, with models arriving late from show to show and needing to be transformed in minutes. I felt like everyone’s mother, clucking and putting on a new outfit for each of my clients’ shows.
Model Shalom Harlow lets robots spray her dress at the 1998 Alexander McQueen show.
Alexander McQueen’s wild creation in 2000
My team and I had to make sure the previous designers packed up quickly to let the next one in on time, and that was always a challenge since the champagne was opened as soon as each show ended. But we didn’t party seriously until the end of that first week, as everyone was too tired. I remember falling asleep at the table at Langan’s Brasserie after a glass or two of wine.
After our first successful catwalk seasons, then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher agreed to host regular cocktail parties for foreign buyers and the press at Number 10. I remember her husband Denis once had a heated argument with designer Jeff Banks. It must have been politics!
The iconic photo of Katharine Hamnett surprising Mrs Thatcher with her protest T-shirt reading “58% don’t want Pershing” (a reference to the US missile base in Britain) became one of the most used journalistic photographs of the decade.
Princess Diana was also at the front; After all, she was the most important ambassador of British fashion and usually wore the latest looks from her favorite designers Catherine Walker, Bruce Oldfield and my dear friend Jasper Conran.
She even hosted her own Fashion Week party at Lancaster House in March 1985. We were quite intimidated as we queued up to shake her hand and, to our surprise, the hand of young Prince William, who looked like he had just woken up. and they brought me downstairs to greet our unruly group of fashionistas.
Victoria Beckham debuts on the catwalk in 2000
Cara Delevingne holds an umbrella while walking the Burberry runway in 2012
Queen Elizabeth II with Vogue editor Anna Wintour at a Richard Quinn show in 2018
Unfortunately, the Commonwealth Institute’s grass began to crumble after a couple of seasons, so we moved to the grounds of the Duke of York Barracks in Sloane Square, now home to the Saatchi Gallery, which had space for two huge tents, one cafeteria and rooms inside for smaller shows.
By now, the paparazzi were scrambling to photograph the front row, which had become the place where new young celebrities appeared. We were all excited when we heard that Madonna was going to appear at the Joseph Show in 1986. She was almost an hour late, which threw the entire Fashion Week schedule out of sync, but there was no way we were going to start without her.
The Katharine Hamnett show in 1986 was pure entertainment, with singer Sarah Jane Morris performing her hit with the commoners, Don’t Leave Me This Way, alongside model Marie Helvin, Buddhist monks and African drummers. Roxy Music wore Wendy Dagworthy’s menswear collection and Jerry Hall would always model for his good friend Antony Price. Boy George was a BodyMap regular.
Yasmin Le Bon and her friend Gayle Elliott were everyone’s favorite models and the hottest American girls of the time, Pat Cleveland, Alva Chinn and Billie Blair, were there to appear on the catwalk, as well as party on their way to Paris.
London Fashion Week was exciting, prosperous and noisy. The tents on King’s Road almost took off with all the excitement.
Unfortunately the magic was doomed to not last. In October 1986, after five seasons and nearly 100 shows, industry policy forced the runway tents to be moved to the Olympia parking lot, which housed the sales floor for the rest of the fashion business.
Even though Vivienne Westwood and Zandra Rhodes were already holding shows at Olympia’s beautiful Pillar Hall, availability was limited and many of the designers were upset about the move.
As time went by, several of our biggest names, including Vivienne and Katharine, began performing in Paris; Ghost went to New York; John Rocha to Milan. But new names emerged like Victoria Beckham and Stella McCartney.
Now, brands from Alexander McQueen to Burberry and local modeling talents like Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss prove what I knew: that there’s nothing like British fashion.
Compared to the behemoth that London Fashion Week has become, the tented shows of the 1980s may seem small. But what glorious moments we had in those first incipient, but unforgettable years.