British labels move focus from innovation to style as names drop off show schedule owing to financial pressure
“L
ondon fashion has leant too much into being theatrical. Drama is great, but style is a huge piece of why we buy fashion,” said Mario Arena, the creative director of Joseph, at its first catwalk show in eight years.
Arena has a subversive idea to re-energise London fashion week. More polish, less pantomime: clothes that sell, rather than clothes that scream.
“Buyers will say they come to London for innovation, and they go to Italy and France for style. But London used to be a style capital, and it should be again,” Arena said on Friday. He is the Australian-born creative director of the brand founded by the late Joseph Ettedgui, which was beloved in the 1980s and 1990s for flattering black trousers, chic leather and knit, and the see-and-be-seen in-store restaurant, Joe’s Cafe. “Women want clothes that work what we call the three Ds: desk, dinner, walking the dog when they get home,” he added.
