Overview London Fashion Week is the British Fashion Council's twice-yearly run of designer shows, and the September 2026 edition packed 47 catwalk shows, 23 presentations, 10 digital activations and 53 evening events into five days, from Burberry and McQueen down to emerging designers showing for the first time. It runs every February and September across venues spread through the city, and londonfashionweek.co.uk works year-round as its digital hub, where retailers, media and consumers view the collections. The council, which runs it, counted 224 designer members and 53 patrons in 2023-24. On site Each season the council runs one official venue, 180 Strand from 2024 through 2026, which holds the NEWGEN shows, a press and buyers lounge, a model zone and the opening breakfast; the building's atrium carries a 31-foot LED screen. The rest of the schedule plays out in designers' own venues and stores across London, from the Somerset House courtyard to Dover Street Market. Around the week the council runs a consumer program of events and promotions in shops and public spaces, which counted 350 events in September 2024 and in 2026 ran as Fashion Britain across eight UK cities. Audience The council describes the venue crowd as buyers, journalists, consumers, designers, celebrities and influencers from around the world. Its own guest program brings in about 30 press and 40 buyers a season, out of some 625 press and buyers on the wider list, and roughly 50 models pass through the model zone between shows. Talent and Influencers The September 2026 schedule brought back McQueen, Mulberry, Barbour, Burberry, Erdem, Harris Reed, Richard Quinn, Roksanda and Simone Rocha, and gave first London seasons to the Indian label Lovebirds and to Marks and Spencer. Francesca Lake, Gui Rosa and Petra Fagerstrom made their debuts through NEWGEN, the council's program of grants, schedule slots and mentoring for emerging designers, and the Fashion East collective showed Goyagoma, Jacek Gleba and Me Me. Track record The first edition, in 1984, had 15 catwalk shows, and the week marked its 40th anniversary in 2024. It went fur-free in September 2018 and banned exotic skins from 2025. Guests got through more than 1,000 bottles of 1664 Blanc at the venue bar in four days in September 2024, and the council reports that Clearpay, a former principal partner launching in the UK, finished its partnership known to one in two people and with 75% of its new-business pipeline achieved. Brand presence Partners sign on by season, from official supplier up to principal partner, and every brand has to be approved by the council and meet its conduct, sustainability and diversity standards. Official partners can put a show on the schedule: in September 2024 eBay staged Endless Runway, archive looks from 40 years of British fashion hosted by Leomie Anderson and streamed on eBay Live. The council also brokers work with its designers; Pandora worked with Priya Ahluwalia on the styling of her spring/summer 2025 show, ending on a pearl finale piece.