Star-studded event moves from Somerset House to concrete landmark as practicality and accessibility take centre stage
It might not seem immediately obvious that a move from one of the country’s largest and grandest examples of 18th-century architecture to a concrete multistorey carpark is a step up in the world, but then British fashion has always lived by its own rules. On Friday morning, the 62nd London fashion week – 5,000 visitors, 52 catwalk shows, plus the consumption of an estimated 30,000 espressos and 15,000 bottles of Evian – set up camp in its new home, the Brewer Street car park.
To be fair, Brewer Street is an admired Soho landmark, which English Heritage advised listing in 2002. (It is, apparently, the third-oldest multistorey car park to feature ramps.) The new venue brings the shows “closer to retail”, as the British Fashion Council chief, Caroline Rush, says. Not just literally and geographically closer, but closer in spirit.
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