The British Fashion Council (BFC) announces 36 British menswear designers will participate in the Designer Showrooms at London Collections: Men, 16-18th June 2013.
This season sees the Designer Showrooms focus on a working environment to engage the international audience who visit London for menswear, providing an edited selection of menswear, encompassing the emerging talent through to the more contemporary and heritage brands. This season for the first time, the Designer Showrooms will be situated across two of the official BFC Show Spaces: The Hospital Club and Victoria House.
"The refocused Designer Showrooms this season are a reflection of the growing stature of London Collections: Men. In only three seasons, the Designer Showrooms have expanded into two venues. Both of these spaces have been carefully designed to accommodate the growing demand from buyers to place orders with menswear designers in London." - Caroline Rush, Chief Executive, British Fashion Council
Both spaces have been considered in terms of layout and curation, to allow maximum exposure for the designers to reach their key audiences. Focus zones will be introduced to provide guests with clear areas to source the designers or product they are interested in. They will include emerging designers, contemporary designers and an Accessories Collective.
The Hospital Club will be home to the ready-to-wear collections and separated into emerging and contemporary designers. The Emerging Designers Collective is located on the first floor and is comprised of NEWGEN MEN, sponsored by TOPMAN, and Fashion Forward, sponsored by eBay Fashion and supported by the Mayor of London, recipients, as well as new names Alan Taylor and T.Lipop.
The Contemporary Designers Collective on the ground floor includes London based designer Percival ; Scandinavian designer, Norwegian Rain , showcasing their revered outerwear garments; Jean Machine , presenting a collection of jeans, shirts, t-shirts and outerwear and Universal Works who will present an installation. Casely-Hayford and Paul Costelloe will present their SS14 collections in private showrooms located on the first floor and second floor.
This June Victoria House will be home to the Accessories Collective, which will sit alongside a new BFC Catwalk Show Space. The Accessories Collective features the highest quality edit of British accessories designers across footwear, eyewear jewellery and bags. Exciting products for June include timepieces by London-based brand Uniform Wares, hand-made leather satchels from the Cambridge Satchel Company and footwear from Dr Martens and Diego Vanassibara. All will showcase their SS14 collections to press and retailers.
A dedicated schedule of events at the Designer Showrooms will take place at the Hospital Club and Victoria House, providing key networking opportunities for press and buyers to meet the designers and see the latest collections, with an event taking place each day to support each of the Designer Collectives.
