How Emerging Designer Platforms Are Keeping LFW Fresh and Inclusive
London Fashion Week thrives on fresh talent and bold ideas. Emerging designers, supported by platforms like Fashion Scout and BFC NEWGEN, are shaping the future of fashion with diversity, creativity, and heritage at the heart of every collection. We highlight the new generation keeping London’s runways vibrant and inclusive.
Photos: Fashion Scout London Fashion Week (AW26) Runway Shows and Designers
London has always been a fashion talent incubator. The home of Burberry birthed the McQueens, the Enningfuls, and the Grace Joneses — a plurality of talents in fashion that have defined entire eras in the industry. It has this unique ability to harness skilled designers and then push them out into the world, transforming the industry for the better. We saw British talent take over major French houses in the nineties. John Galliano became the first Brit to head a French fashion house at Givenchy. Alexander McQueen followed in his footsteps, while Stella McCartney took the lead at Chloé. When it came to new, bold, and experimental fashion, the French turned to the Brits, recognising the British knack for daring creativity.
More recently, Grace Wales Bonner became the first Black woman to lead a major European fashion house at Hermès. To the outside world, her journey begins, but to Londoners, she is a homegrown talent, born, bred, and sculpted by the unique cocktail that makes London’s fashion community. Triumphant stories like Bonner’s follow a common storyline in London because the city takes a chance on new talent. Bonner is an alumna of Central Saint Martins, just like McQueen and McCartney. She worked hard and found her work appreciated first through emerging designer platforms established by the British Fashion Council, mainly the BFC Emerging Menswear Designer Award, which she won at the British Fashion Awards in 2015. But hers is just one designer story among many, illustrating the city’s consistent ability to cultivate talent.
The British Fashion Council (BFC) has established a strong culture of inclusivity and visibility for British talent, not shying away from diversity. This season, London Fashion Week (FW26) opened with Nigerian designer Tolu Coker, centring identity, craft, and sustainability. A choice that signals London’s commitment to fresh perspectives. An emerging designer opening fashion week is not something we see in other major fashion cities around the world. Not to mention, the BFC’s Next Gen fashion programme, also known as BFC NEWGEN, is probably the UK’s most important initiative for emerging fashion designers. It helps early-stage brands develop into internationally viable, creative fashion businesses and has been launching fashion careers for over 30 years. This season, it gave us a future game-changer: Kazna Asker. The British-Yemeni fashion designer’s work merges traditional Middle Eastern fabrics with contemporary tracksuits, outerwear, and tailoring. Each piece is designed and hand-sewn by Kazna herself, resulting in unique one-of-one garments. This year, her 180 The Strand collection presentation included the Ramadan fast-breaking tradition, marking a first in London Fashion Week history. Before London, she also won the Debut Talent Prize at Fashion Trust Arabia, representing her home country, Yemen.
Photos: Kazner Asker London Fashion Week NEWGEN Presentation AW26
For decades, independent platforms like Fashion Scout have also spotlighted and elevated future fashion talent. Tolu Coker was once among the designers at Fashion Scout, along with others such as Iris van Herpen, Phoebe English, Kazna Asker, and more.
This season, the platform, now officially part of the London Fashion Week programme, highlighted ones to watch: Min-Ji Kim, Adolf Maldonado, Astha Garg, and Khushi Kumar, a mix of local and international talent connected to London.
Khushi Kumar, a talented designer working between India and London, stated: “I just launched my debut collection, and I can’t believe I get to show at LFW… I truly feel like Fashion Scout plays such a key role for emerging designers because to give someone this big of a platform is phenomenal. A space full of helpful and supportive people, which stands out in this industry.” Her collection celebrates sustainability-led designs, positioning Indian textiles within a contemporary international framework and showing how tradition can coexist with innovation.
Photos: Khushi Kumar Runway at Fashion Scout’s Ones-To-Watch Show
Fashion Scout also partnered with Unity in Design Global Network, another independent platform built to champion and elevate Black and other ethnic minority fashion creatives. Collaborations like this are key for London’s fashion ecosystem, providing opportunities for creatives who are not easily welcomed into fashion’s sometimes elitist bubbles. One of the highlight moments this season came from this collaboration: Anthology of African Stories – The People. The Land. The Heritage. showcased three emerging African designers: Twin by Tare, Tayameaca, and Jermain Bleu. Each offered a distinct, personal narrative, rejecting the idea of Africa as a single story and instead celebrating its complexity, specificity, and individuality on a world stage.
Alongside BFC NewGen and Fashion Scout, Fashion East is another one of the UK’s most influential emerging designer support platforms. It has been a launchpad for experimental and boundary-pushing talent in London since the late 1990s.
Emerging designer platforms are the backbone of the industry, allowing British fashion to keep shifting without losing one of Britain’s greatest cultural gifts: diversity. The intricate network of universities (in London and across the country), plugged into independent brand platforms and PR agencies, work together to shape the future of fashion — from Britain to the rest of the world. By giving new talent visibility and support, these platforms ensure that London Fashion Week remains not only a showcase of style but also a beacon of innovation, inclusivity, and cultural wealth.
Photos: Unity in Design Global Network x Fashion Scout London Fashion Week Runway Backstage
