Countdown to London Fashion Week

Twitter/Instagram/any other of your chosen social media networks are swimming with New York fashion week snapshots. Yes, we get it. You’re at New York Fashion Week, it’s great. Lucky then, that our very own London Fashion Week here in the capital is but a mere two days away! Phew.

What will occur this year? What delights will we see both on and off the catwalks?

It all starts first thing Friday morning with J. JS Lee who was resplendent back in September with mint and immaculate tailoring. Will we see a more neutral palette or something even bolder? Mark Fast is always something of an enigma, particularly as he describes this year’s offering as ‘A dichotomy of poverty and glamour’ meeting in the middle to create something beautiful. Intriguing…

Personal favourites are Emilia Wickstead, Simone Rocha, Sibling and Mary Kantrantzou who never fail to make me dribble a little (in a good way). Then there’s the classic drama of John Rocha whose highly dramatic hats caused quite a storm last season and Ashish whose sequin carrier bags for SS’14 were both tacky and magnificent (two important qualities).

Keen to see something new (and always fond of some off schedule action) we’re looking forward to PINGHE’s debut LFW show on Friday night with the promise of architectural styling and strong shapes. Another show first takes the shape of high street darlings Whistles who are debuting their Limited Edition collection, coinciding with the announcement that they’ll be opening a new London flagship store on Dover Street in Mayfair.

But enough of the shows – there’s plenty of stuff going on around London to mark our five days of frenzied fashion. Bizarrely, many involve buses. The first involves bus stops specifically which sounds pleasingly unglamorous but is actually pretty cool. To mark the Year of the Bus (again unglamorous, but wait) TFL are launching the first ever bus stop top photographic exhibition from friday so passengers can see works of art from fashion photographer and genius Jergen Teller as they cruise past on the top deck. Nice.

Again, bus-related (odd) make sure you head to the Strand to party on the Shopcade LFW bus  with DJ sets, live music make up and styling and goodie bags. It’s all free but book your tickets through the Facebook page here.

So, now we must wait. But only two days! Plus the fashion team will be tweeting from The London Word Twitter @TheLondonWord so make sure you’re following us for updates.

London Fashion Week SS14 runs from Friday 14 to Tuesday 18 February. Stay tuned for coverage.

Image courtesy of Norbert Severin