The Standout Shows From London Fashion Week S/S25

The week to launch a thousand camera flashes, London Fashion Week has just roared through the city and left a fresh sense of excitement in its wake. The new guard have felt more exciting than before, with brands like Derrick presenting their brilliant second on-the-catwalk show (read our feature on the collection here) and the lovably scruffy fashion designer Ellen Poppy Hill making her raucous fashion week debut. With a schedule this dense, we’re thankful that Mercedes Benz’s massaging seats were kneading out the stresses from show to show.

Here, we list some of our favourites we saw this season at the Spring/Summer 2025 edition of London Fashion Week.

Talia Byre

Talia Byre treated guests to an intimate walk-through of her new collection, led by the designer herself, at Reference Point, a cult library just off the Strand. Entitled Fritzi Ritz, named after an American comic strip from 1922, this season the brand riffed on cartoonish characters like Dennis the Menace and Daphne from Scooby-Doo. But this being Talia Byre – a chic young womenswear label crafting clothes with a “clever sexiness” to them – nothing was on the nose here; the references were instead winked at subtly in a red and black stripe. One particularly show-stopping cream shearling puff-ball mini dress – paired with gold disco knickers underneath, obviously – was inspired by caramel crows in Greek mythology, while the shimmering fabric of a louche rugby shirt was lifted from a Pipilotti Rist exhibition the designer saw in New York; she is now showcasing her collection across the pond as we speak.

Chopova Lowena

In the labyrinthine, decaying basement of Shoreditch Town Hall, Chopova Lowena put on an earsplitting show devoted to the folk heroines of the Victorian Wild West. Here, you could hear the motley crew of street cast of models a mile off before they appeared briefly, in a momentary flash, with outfits weighed down by studs, medals, and mountains of clinking charms. This season, the pair also looked to Olympic gymnasts from the 80s and 90s, with glimmering rhinestone-covered, ruffled leotards on display, alongside the brand’s debut Asics collaboration – trainers adorned with enormous butterflies rendered in metal – and even a collaboration with Hellmann’s, a jar of mayonnaise strapped conveniently onto the side of a handbag.

Simone Rocha

Simone Rocha’s show was held in the Old Bailey, a historic criminal court decked out in marble, mosaic and murals of astonishing grandeur (famous trials there have included the Suffragettes, Oscar Wilde and the Kray brothers). Her second show in the space – a perfect location for Rocha, who favours beauty and darkness in equal measure – the event was unabashedly romantic, drawing inspiration from dancers Michael Clark and Pina Bausch, and the carnation flower (version of which were pressed in between the seams of sheer coats, carried as bouquets, or stuffed seductively into the busts of dresses). This season, she also unveiled the third iteration of her sell-out collaboration with Crocs, alongside two looks featuring the nightmarish paintings of Irish artist Genieve Figgis.

Aaron Esh

Thanks to financial support from Jaguar, Aaron Esh’s S/S25 show was bigger, bolder, and styled by one of fashion’s most hallowed names – Katy England, Alexander McQueen’s former right hand and Another Man’s senior fashion editor-at-large. Esh is beloved for his London-centric designs, created with a darkly seductive, real sense of glamour for the long walk home the morning after a debaucherous night of partying. This season, the designer took inspiration from the dreary palette of the London skyline, transforming the city’s murky tones into bombshell dresses in velvet and silk, sharp blazers, and sheer vests – high-octane, sexy outfits paired with Esh’s sell-out baseball caps and oversized sunglasses.

Standing Ground

Michael Stewart, the founder of Standing Ground wasn’t offering interview time prior to his debut solo show out of Fashion East, and the collection’s press notes provided nothing by way of explanation either. Instead, Stewart let his statuesque works of wonder do the talking for him. Presented in a small space at 180 Strand, directly next to the small studio where he and his team have been beavering away at the S/S25 collection, his couture dresses drifted by with a menacing slowness. And thank god they did move so slowly, there was so much to savour up close: those bubbly fabric-sheathed pearls were like rib cages beneath skin, contorting as they slipped by. Less than a week before the show, Stewart had won the inaugural Savoir-Faire Prize at the 2024 LVMH Prize, which focuses on exceptional craftsmanship, and here we could see why.

JW Anderson

To be candid, it did take some light Googling to uncover what Jonathan Anderson might have been hinting towards for his Spring/Summer 2024 womenswear collection. The text print from the collection’s closing look led to a chapter of Clive Bell’s 1914 aesthetic theory book, Art, titled Simplification and Design, which argues that great art simplifies complex forms and eliminates unnecessary details. It somewhat explains the direction Anderson is headed in his eponymous label; away from those distracting intricacies and towards fascinating, more ‘simple’ feats of form. Here we saw little skirts jutting out rigidly at 45-degree angles, minis with trompe-l’oeil hoodie strings and zips, and draped sequin dresses that hang like napkins wrapping some cutlery. These simple ideas work best with exquisite ingredients, and Anderson has a pantry full of them.

Paolo Carzana

We’ve heard a few overly dramatised stories about our stoic fashion press being brought to tears while watching fashion shows, but at Paolo Carzana’s intimate presentation in his leafy Hackney garden there was barely a dry eye in sight. Admittedly, it was the final evening of London Fashion Week so most showgoers were already running on fumes, and the chilled wine served beforehand surely helped lubricate some of those sobs. Still, there was something in those raggedy organic shapes, in the colour palette influenced by water and nature, that felt like we were watching something particularly special. As the sun descended, the show began with a reenactment of Caravaggio’s Narcissus, and a model stroked the water of a pond at the garden’s centre, soundtracked by Anohni’s soulful voice, before the rest of the looks eeked out from inside his back porch. The collection explored themes of vanity, self-reflection, and more global issues of climate change and social unrest, and the looks themselves were truly spectacular. Carzana is undoubtedly one to watch.

Burberry

For British label Burberry, Bradford-born designer Daniel Lee knows better than to present a summer collection without a few waterproof jackets. Rooted in joy and familiarity, the iconic Burberry trench is evolved with cutouts, zips and organza faux-feathers, creating a sense of lightness alongside field jackets in Prince of Wales check and capes. Daisies are a recurring motif, adorning trenches and trousers, adding a touch of playfulness to Lee’s approach to the great outdoors. These were contrasted against some fabulous fringed dresses, made up of intricate metal paillettes, and cooed at by a front row of superstars including Barry Keoghan, Olivia Colman, Gabriel Moses and Patsy Kensit. The show was staged at the National Theatre amid an original set brimming with verdant colour and geometry by British artist Gary Hume, inspired by Hume’s installation, Bays, which was first shown in a seminal group exhibition called the East Country Yard Show in London’s Docklands in 1990.

Fashion East

It’s no surprise that Fashion East is one of the hottest tickets in town, having helped birth designers like Jonathan Anderson, Kim Jones, Craig Green, Mowalola, Simone Rocha and more, just as their talents were beginning to germinate. Returning to the Old Truman Brewery, London talent incubator showcased the work of five designers, with two presentations and three on the runway.

Olly Shinder returned for his third and final season with a collection that once again reimagines workwear through a queer lens, infusing boy scout uniforms and PE kits with a provocative twist, using leather and latex to add a fetishistic edge. Newcomers Nuba, the brand from co-creative directors Cameron Williams and Jebi Labembika, see clothes as a compromise and a source of protection. Their new collection. Sim, dissects identity within a city setting, bringing together the cultures of London, Jamaica and Cameroon. The final catwalk showing was another newcomer, Loutre, founded by multi-hyphenate creator Pia Schiele, who presented an almost solely upcycled collection geared towards the city’s free-spirited youth.

Newbie shoe designer Kitty Shukman has arrived at Fashion East to introduce her debut collection, Positive Energy Flows Again, merging streetwear with a magical, healing vision, inviting wearers to connect with their higher selves. Clothing label Sosskyn returned with a presentation of handmade pieces made from weird and wonderful salvaged materials like pre-owned cashmere, latex, and eco resins, reconfigured to emphasise texture, touch, and the intimate connection between body and fabric.