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A London matriarchy
The Guardian
|September 22, 2025
Move over, Paris and Milan - it's a fashion week ruled by women
Where else can you find Jerry Hall, Romeo Beckham, Prue Leith, Barbara Hepworth, Robert Mapplethorpe, Lucy Bronze and Marina Abramović all in one place? For an eclectic cast of characters, London fashion week is hard to beat.
Hall starred as a “diva psychic”, using clairvoyant powers to hawk bracelets in a short play by Laura Waldren staged by the jewellery brand Completedworks, while Beckham and Leith made their London catwalk debuts, for H&M and Vin + Omi. Hepworth and Mapplethorpe came along for the ride in spirit, on the moodboards at Roksanda and Emilia Wickstead respectively, while the England footballer and the performance artist had front row seats.
The through line of the current London fashion scene is female creativity and leadership. While Milan and Paris are dominated by male creative directors, London fashion week is a matriarchy. The headline acts of the weekend were all women: Simone Rocha, Emilia Wickstead, Roksanda Ilinčić and Edeline Lee.
This story is from the September 22, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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