While London is a multi-cultural cosmopolitan world capital, its role as a leading capital for world design talent will be further boosted come next February when the city will play host to global designers as it has been announced that the February 2016 edition of London Fashion Week (LFW) will see the staging of an exhibition to showcase the work of 80 emerging designers from 25 different countries around the world.
According to the British Council and the British Fashion Council, the exhibition will open on February 19 at Somerset House, London, as the fifth edition of the annual International Fashion Showcase (IFS).
Entitled "Fashion Utopias", the exhibition is said to be a key part of LFW's public programme, which aims to celebrate the ongoing relevance of fashion in contemporary culture.
This year’s exhibition will also celebrate the 500th anniversary of the publication of Thomas More’s inspirational text, Utopia, which highlights the educational value of honouring different places, people and cultures. The West Wing at Somerset House will be transformed into an imaginary terrain, designed by Hatty Ellie Coward, where the emerging designers and curators will invite attendees to share their vision of the future.
Spanning over 15 galleries, the exhibition will consist of 14 galleries representing a country and one group installation entitled ‘Next in Line’, curated by Shonagh Marshall. The work from additional designers will be featured and country installations for the exhibition include Czech Republic, Indonesia and Nigeria.
There will be a series of seminars, visits and mentoring opportunities for the designers organised by the London College of Fashion, to help them prepare for the showcase, known as the Designer Support Programme.
A collaboration with the coinciding event - Fashion Scout - will offer the participating designers a chance to show their designs on the catwalk.
A ceremony will also be held during LFW, chaired by a panel of industry experts, who will select the winning Country and Designers, as well as a Curator Award sponsored by Bonaveri.
"At a time when it often seems as if we’ve plunged into a dystopian age, it’s a liberating act to think about exactly the opposite: if we could create a Utopia, how would we want it to be?," said Sarah Mower MBE. "From the entries we’ve already seen, this year’s showcase will be a chance to witness a phenomenally uplifting inter-cultural compare-and-contrast. Each country’s deeply-felt exhibit is also to be framed with a national curator, a fast-developing field of collaboration on the frontiers between art and fashion."
The IFS is set to run from February 19 to 23, 2016 at Somerset House.
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