London Fashion Week has gone digital – here's our top five shows, exhibitions and more to rewatch from this weekend
The first European fashion week to go digital (as more and more designers move online or off the fashion week calendars entirely with COVID-19 shaking up the industry), London Fashion Week men's (and some women's) took place last weekend.
Designers from Marques Almeida to Ahluwalia showcased their latest collections and inspirations in various video formats on the British Fashion Council's homepage. Many highlighted their sustainable values, some opted for cinematic videos. Charles Jeffrey used his platform to amplify the voices of other black musicians and designers. While it's definitely a mixed bag, and prompts even more mixed feelings about a digital fashion week format, here are five we feel are worth rewatching.
Ahluwalia – "Jalebi", a 3D VR Exhibition
Featured in our own shortlist of 10 Emerging Asian Designers To Watch, Ahluwalia does it again as she closes the first session of digital London Fashion Week with a 3D VR Exhibition; displaying archival Inkjet prints from her latest book, Jalebi. Displaying photographs by Laurence Ellis, each study moves “back and forth between the imagined and real” – reflecting the cyclical nature of life in Southall, Britain’s first Punjabi community, where Ahluwalia regularly visited growing up.
In turn, each photograph reveals more of Ahluwalia’s world, allowing the viewer to further understand and how her heritage is fused into the recycled and found garments she acquires and transforms into her collections.
A celebration of immigration and how it has impacted the community, family is a hallmark in Jalebi: photographs are laid next to extracts of Ahluwalia’s interview on her family experience between India and Britain. These portraits allow the viewer to submerge themselves in the profiles of the many mixed-heritage youths living in modern-day Britain – similar to Ahluwalia herself – and the beauty of diversity within this community.
Visit Jalebi by Ahluwalia at digital London Fashion Week.
Buy Jalebi at Ahluwalia Studio. Proceeds will be donated to the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust and Southall Black Sisters.