Boris Johnson and the LDA show support for London Fashion
It's all change at the office of the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, and the London Development Agency (LDA), as increasing support for London fashion means that the British Fashion Council (BFC) is being granted increased funds along with support with individual designers including the Tower Hamlets-based Nicola de Main.
Last season, Boris Johnson opened London Fashion and celebrated the event's 25th year with a pledge to help financially boost the London Fashion industry. While the London arts community continues to struggle to gain funding in the current economic climate, the London fashion industry, it seems, has never had it so good in terms of government support. A press release from the Mayor's office in September stated that London Fashion Week: "is worth £20 million to the London economy in terms of direct spend and generates orders in the region of £100m. London’s global reputation derives from a hotbed of world class emerging design talent; the British Fashion Council aims to identify, support and nurture that talent to develop profitable businesses based in London."
It continues: "Raising the profile of London Fashion Week is one of the main objectives in the LDA’s three-year contract with the British Fashion Council. With the global economic downturn, this support is more important than ever." Chief Executive of the BFC, Hilary Riva was rightly chuffed and commented that: "The funding from the LDA enables the British Fashion Council to promote British-based designer business and showcase new talent. London has become the world's most creative and dynamic fashion centre. By targeting significant buyers and publications, we play a vital role in selling more British fashion and British talent around the world." Funding to the BFC from the LDA since 2007 has totalled £4.2million.
Since September, we have seen Boris Johnson grace the cover of Elle magazine and the LDA announced in January 2010 that it was supporting east London designers via a grant of £150k to the East London Small Business Centre, administered by the LDA and sourced from the European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) programme. Nicola de Main (whose London debut was featured in fuk.co.uk) is one of the London designers to benefit from the initiative. Nicola, an accomplished designer with her own-name label, has had limited experience in running a business. Through the East London Small Business Centre (ELSBC), she has received two loans and the services of a dedicated business counsellor.
While most of the LDA funding has so far been directed at the British Fashion Council and is supporting Fashion Forward, a programme which helps post-New Generation designers stage catwalk shows and develop their businesses, the east London funding indicates that there could be more support for smaller designers on the way. In less than three weeks time, London Fashion Week will host over 60 on-schedule shows and buyers and press from all over the globe will be watching what London's designers have to offer both on and off-schedule and in the cracks in-between. Will we see Boris Johnson sitting front row at the obvious shows by established designers whose businesses are relatively stable? Or will he perhaps, take a chance and venture off-schedule to see what the underbelly of London's fashion talent has to offer, on a budget?
Words: Marian Buckley
www.britishfashioncouncil.co.uk
More ...  |