LFW SS26: Homegrown talent offers a renewed sense of energy

There was an energised and optimistic feel to London Fashion Week amongst designers, brands, media and buyers this season, as the bi-annual showcase started a new chapter under the British Fashion Council’s new chief executive, Laura Weir, whose ambition is to make LFW “fashion's most magnetic exposition of excellence, in the world”.

At the opening speech, Weir stressed that her goal for this September edition of LFW was to add “new energy, new thinking and new ideas,” while removing resistance, and supporting the message “that fashion matters”.

Weir, former editor and creative director of luxury department store Selfridges, replaced Caroline Rush in April and has already made significant progress in the reinvention of LFW, including adding 18 percent more designers to the schedule, following a lacklustre February edition, as she looks to turn LFW into a “sensational showcase of creative fashion design talent”.

While designer names including Burberry, Richard Quinn, Roksanda, and Simone Roche, as well as high street retailer H&M will probably take all the social media glory, at the heart of the renewed energy this season was the emerging talent that LFW is so renowned for, with a new crop of designers looking for their chance in the spotlight, including Maximilian Raynor and Patrick McDowell, this year’s winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design, as well as newcomers Oscar Ouyang, an emerging designer who is redefining knitwear in menswear, and Joshua Ewusie’s eponymous label Ewusie, who both joined the NewGen line-up of talent.

“It feels like there’s a renewed sense of energy in London right now,” British designer Daniel Fletcher told FashionUnited backstage, after showcasing his second collection for the Chinese brand Mithridate.

While Maximilian Raynor, who opened proceedings on September 18, said that London “always has been and always will be a hotbed for exciting, boundary pushing designers who question the status quo of fashion through subversive design and thinking outside the box,” while adding that “London designers have proven they can marry innovation and spectacle with luxury and quality".

Patrick McDowell launches ready-to-wear

Liverpudlian designer Patrick McDowell, who is based in London, put on a celebration of British heritage and craftsmanship to launch his latest collection, 'The Lancashire Rose,' at Battersea Power Station, which was one of the designer’s most intimate collections to date, and a love letter to his grandmother, who taught him how to sew.

“Creating this collection was a form of therapy, of grieving and celebration for my grandmother,” McDowell told FashionUnited backstage, and added that the finale wedding dress was the starting point, drawing inspiration from a photograph of his grandmother as a bride.

“My grandmother getting married in the 40s is such a key moment in the story she told me, and obviously her life, she was married 52 years, and had eight children, and she actually wore her friend's wedding dress as she couldn't afford her own,” added McDowell. “With this one, we actually sourced four or five vintage wedding dresses, in need of help, from the 40s, took them apart, reconditioned them and remade it into this. It has over 200 hand-stitched organza flowers, all made in London.”

The 40s cinched-in waist silhouette is also predominant throughout the collection, which McDowell states his clients “love,” with other key looks including faded red rose printed gowns, deconstructed trench coats reworked into corset tops embellished with floral appliques, and sleek tailoring with embroidered rose detailing.

This season, McDowell also made his ready-to-wear debut, as he looks to drive what he calls “conscious growth” of his label, but stressed that the launch isn’t about mass producing his designs, as his label is still “rooted in sustainable innovation and British craft heritage”.

“We are launching ready-to-wear in a very limited way,” explains McDowell. “So far, we’ve done bespoke, and now we’ll do ready-to-wear piece that are available in additions of between five and 60, so its super small. The idea is just to give our clients accessible pieces in the in the regions they live in.”

The ready-to-wear will run alongside its dedicated bespoke and made-to-measure clients at its London studio.

McDowell also developed a limited-edition capsule collection of accessories in collaboration with Aspinal of London, including 16 bags, a silk scarf, and a pair of black velvet slippers. Highlights included the reimagining of the British accessories brand’s ‘Mayfair’ bag in harlequin-embroidered velvet, sheer beaded tulle, raffia, and custom floral silk damask crafted by historic Suffolk silk mill Stephen Walters, producers of the silk for Princess Diana's wedding dress. The styles perfectly matched up with key looks from the designer’s collection.

“As a kid, I used to make bags in my bedroom, so it felt like going back to the beginning and Aspinal were a dream to work with,” said McDowell. “My Grandmother also matched everything when she wore outfits, so it was important to create matching outfits to each bag. We actually started with the bags and then did the outfits.”

Maximilian Raynor draws inspiration from family heritage

One of the brightest fashion talents in the UK at the moment has to be Derbyshire-born Maximilian Raynor, a Central Saint Martins graduate, who marked his on-schedule LFW debut this season, with his sophomore collection backed by the Hidden Fashion Initiative (Hi-fi), a London-based non-profit programme that nurtures emerging creative talent.

“I am eternally grateful to Liam Gleeson, the founder of Hi-Fi, who has created a support programme dedicated so passionately to uplifting, platforming, but to be boldly truthful, most importantly, financing young talent,” explained Raynor in the show notes. “In these early years he dedicates profits from his own agency Hidden, to help us fulfil our dreams. I hope as Hi-fi finds its feet, corporate businesses can invest in his vision to help others like me bridge the gap between buzzy graduates and genuine brand owners who can sustain a label long-term.”

Known for his clothing blending drama, storytelling, romance and character, his SS26 collection, called ‘I’ll Cry If I Want To,’ drew inspiration from different archetypes, including 40s Royal Air Force pilot parties, 60s Mods and a skeletal 20s flapper girl, as well as delving into what he calls his “ordinary British roots” and the characters within his family.

The result was a retro birthday party-inspired immersive theatrical experience in Shoreditch, complete with birthday cake and dancing. Highlights from the collection included a bold silver ribbon-crocheted gown, a gold bow-inspired dress, an elastic-band jumper, and even a two-piece look inspired by the colours of Wolverhampton Wanderers, the football team Raynor’s great-great-grandfather played for.

This season, Raynor also showcased two collaborations, knitted polos and cardigans with British knitwear brand John Smedley and eyewear featuring details that evoke the metal-capped toes of his signature shoes and punk hardware with Antwerp-based Komono Eyewear. Both collaborations will be available in early 2026.

“I am excited to distil the creativity of the Maximilian Raynor brand into pieces that can easily be adopted into anyone’s wardrobe,” said Raynor. “With John Smedley, I fulfil a childhood ambition of collaborating with one of my home county’s most respected heritage brands. Growing up in Derbyshire, I knew that Smedley is the Rolls-Royce of knitwear and I’m proud to give my spin on their classic polos and cardigans. Thank you to Jess McGuire-Dudley and everyone at John Smedley for your support of emerging talent and commitment to the preservation of British manufacturing.”

When asked what the biggest challenge is for a fashion brand like his? Raynor stated it was “finance”.

Raynor told FashionUnited over e-mail: “Money is finally coming in for me, but it's going straight back out. The running costs are very high, not least thanks to astronomic London rent, and my challenge is to be as nimble and dynamic as possible.

“This is why I have a three-pronged business approach. The first being traditional retail sales (with my stockist Machine A in Soho), the second custom-made one-off garments for celebrities and private clients and the third being rental, where I charge a hire fee on garments from my studio.

“My aim is to double the number of custom looks we do per year and add a second stockist for my ready to wear.”

Daniel Fletcher continues to develop Mithridate aesthetic

Chester-born, London-based contemporary designer Daniel Fletcher, who has been carving a niche for himself in menswear with his eponymous label Daniel W. Fletcher, continued to develop his vision as creative director of Chinese luxury brand Mithridate this season.

In February, Fletcher had only months to relaunch the label, design a new logo and creative direction, to support the label’s ambitions to become a “global luxury brand”. For his sophomore collection, ‘Edge of Seventeen,’ he is strengthening an aesthetic and approach that marries British heritage with Chinese craftsmanship with sleek daywear and discerning eveningwear with a touch of eccentricity.

Fletcher told FashionUnited backstage at the Royal Opera House: “The first collection for me was really about establishing what Mithridate is today, because I basically started from scratch, with a new logo, new label, new patterns, everything was new.

“So, for the first season, I really wanted to cement what was the foundation of the brand, while also allowing me to build into that and tell me the story and have some more fun with it.”

For SS26, Fletcher was inspired by 1980s city revelry with British sporting heritage, and the mix between the “two very different worlds,” of country folk and the town dwellers. This fusion was manifested in rugby jerseys worn with business shirts, sequins paired with cotton stripes, cable knits layered over wool-silk tailoring, and glamorous party dresses styled with Oxford shirts.

“The heritage of the collection comes from the country manor, with the cable knits and riding boots, but then there is something glamorous by mixing materials, such as cotton stripe poplin shirts with sequin dresses. It’s a clash that shouldn’t really work but somehow does.”

This season also saw the introduction of more accessories to the label, adding oversized bags inspired by classic luggage with details borrowed from the interiors of trunks and decorated with embossed luggage tags, while tasselled leather footwear made its way from the golf course to the King's Road and riding boots are given new angular proportions.

Commenting on the development of the accessories, Fletcher said: “It takes a longer time to develop accessories, like footwear, bags, and jewellery. In the first season, we kind of gave a taste of it, but I really wanted to make sure we got that right and I'm very happy with what we got to this season.”

With the collection making a statement, Fletcher explained that the label is now looking to drive growth through wholesale and its own stores, with the designer heading to China later this month to open the first new retail format under his creative direction.