You can tell a lot about the current state of fashion from a runway show finale. A long way from the front-row frenzy that descended on catwalks in the ’80s and ’90s, models are now met with a wall of silence and the eyes of innumerable iPhone cameras trained in their direction, capturing a moment that will, in many cases, be uploaded instantaneously to social media. To build a fashion brand in 2025 is to see your designs refracted through a thousand lenses, both literally and metaphorically.

“That was one thing that stayed with me this season. The live response at shows has shifted completely,” says Laura Weir, newly instated CEO of the British Fashion Council. “Designers today have to think far more creatively and strategically about how they build their appeal, because so much of it

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