How London Fashion Week will pays its respects to the Queen

I have never had a moment like this before. The 25-year-old knitwear designer based in London says they were all around the TV watching the updates until they found out the Queen had died.

He will host his first solo show at London Fashion Week on Tuesday, and he is one of many independent labels who could not afford to cancel. The cost for shows can be tens of thousands, but I have been given a lot of support. When you bleed yourself dry at the end of the month and think that your next pay cheque will cover it, that’s the situation. When the news of the Queen’s passing broke last Thursday, designers who have been working on new collections for six months realised that London Fashion Week would fall on the day of national mourning.

There was motion followed. The shows of two of the biggest names on the schedule were canceled on Friday. As global brands with big budgets, it put London’s pull for celebrity guests, models and international press in jeopardy. The British Fashion Council reached for a plan.

There was a chance that it would be a possibility. The BFC’s chief executive says that in the first 24 hours the emotion was heightened and very raw.

Rush says that any non-commercial events, from designer dinners to Kate Moss’s Diet Coke bash, were advised to be canceled, so that anything that might be perceived as disrespectful doesn’t get any airtime. There will be a moment of silence at 8pm on Sunday before Christopher Kane’s show, and Union flags will fly at half-mast.

Kane, whose clients include Catherine, the new Princess of Wales, says that everyone needs to get behind fashion week. We are a small, independent business and fashion week that sells our clothes to department stores. We might be heading into the worst recession ever seen. Kane bought back control of his company from Kering, and this year is his first runway after the economic downturn. It is a case of make or break for most of the smaller LFW brands if they do not show at fashion week.

Stripping away champagne-soaked dinners and penthouse parties, some of which are being rearranged for October 6-13, returns London Fashion Week to its core: a trade show for designers to sell and a motor for the fashion industry’s economic contribution to the UK. There are three other fashion month players. Rush says that New York, Paris and Milan seem to be working at 100 per cent activity. We want to make sure our businesses are able to compete with those international competitors.

It was clear that the message was to tread with caution, but not to abandon the catwalks.

Michael Halpern, who runs the sequin-splashed, party wear label Halpern, says they are going to do something nice in a modest way. It isn’t going to be flashy, comical, or over the top. It’s a thank you, because I really mean that. The American designer says that he met the Queen a few years ago when she came to meet a couple of designers. She told me that my clothes were very expensive. The most spectacular jewellery I have ever seen was worn by you.

Halpern is not the only designer influenced by the Queen, in person or through her decades of fashion history, Halpern is swathed in block colours from her favourite couturiers. There will be other people paying respects on the runway.

The first Queen Elizabeth II Award for Design was presented to Richard Quinn by the Prince of Wales in front of Anna Wintour. The designer nodded as models in signature headscarves appeared in her wardrobe. The finale show of the fashion week is at 7pm on Tuesday and he will not reveal what he is going to do. The pivotal role the Queen played in his career was expected to be poignancy.

The show will be more intimate and private than ever before, presented to a small group of press, buyers, friends and family, and the label called for those in the industry to collect themselves. The incredible stories that this city is known for must continue.

The designers of the silky, floral dress label Henrietta Rix and Orlagh McCloskey will tone down everything from the music to the décor and refreshments at the Rixo presentation. They will also wear black and hold a minute’s silence. David Koma, whose fans include Serena Williams, plans to adjust his set and score for an event that will be less frenetic. He says he was devastated by the death of Queen Elizabeth. The first person that came to my mind when I was asked who I would dress was her.

Some of London Fashion Week’s next generation are approaching with apprehension as the events begin. Feben is set to hold her debut show on Saturday evening, and has made waves with her exploration of blackness through garments. She is aware of the blow that has been caused by some industry stalwarts pulling out. It affects those of us who are not in the fashion hierarchy. It’s not just about clothes and fabric, it’s about who’s around to show up, give space to others and lift people up.

The Y2K label KNWLS, which is led by Charlotte Knowles and is known for dressing the likes of Bella Hadid in corsets and sheer tops, understands the significance of the moment. It was very difficult to come out of a few years of chaos. We spent the last six months preparing for this and it is the only event that drives the next six months. The energy of people getting excited and coming from all over to connect with the brand is what we are excited about.

The overwhelming mood prompted by the past week of rescheduling has been one of sombre perseverance as London’s fashion community came together. According to Rejina Pyo, the South Korean designer who founded her sleek womenswear label in 2014, the motto of the Queen was ” keep calm and carry on.” She would have wanted designers who have made their home in Britain to continue showcasing their work, that’s what I am going to do.

Many of the rooms lined with sewing machines have a sentiment that has bounced around. Halpern agrees that cancelling is not what she would have wanted. She would have wanted people to keep moving forward in their work.