Risky Business

Of the world’s four fashion capitals, London’s view to the future is unparalleled. Zaneta Cheng explores the city’s predilection for incubating and nurturing new talent.

- Zaneta Cheng

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN, JW ANDERSON, Erdem, Peter Pilotto, Marques Almeida are a handful of names that we all know, thanks in part to the British Fashion Council and its NewGen scheme, set up in 1993. In a world where super brands are under increasing pressure to perform financially, and where no super brand – except, perhaps, Armani and Versace – bears a designer of the same name at the creative helm, fostering emerging and independent talent has become ever more important. This is not only to ensure a continual supply of designers for umbrella corporations to switch in and out but, more importantly, to bear the mantle of creativity and to keep it moving forward.

The city that’s become the beacon for young fashion creatives is, by far and away, London, which is home to some of the most celebrated schools and renowned teachers in fashion. Indeed, many designers admit that they wouldn’t have been able to see success were it not for the British institutions.

Eudon Choi would be the first to agree. “I mean, it wasn’t easy,” he says. “I wasn’t confident because I was Korean, not even British, so I didn’t know if I could make it here.But because I was in London I can be where I am now. They really embrace the new designer and they are really very supportive.”