Alice Casely-Hayford: London Fashion Week is a hotbed for dynamic designs, unpredictability and fun

As another London Fashion Week kicks off, I’d be straying from the truth if I said I wasn’t excited about the clothes and the unveiling of the latest vision of London’s greatest design talent. But equally, I’m keen to see which brands celebrate diversity, inclusivity, and body positivity in an authentic, compelling way.

Naturally, as a fashion editor and socially conscious black woman, this is something that I reconsider each season. However, now at a time when the (fashion) world feels particularly polarised, specifically regarding race and the transgender and plus-size movements, the woke among us wait with bated breath to see how and where brands position themselves for SS18. In the wake of L’Oréal-gate, where the beauty brand controversially dropped transgender black model Munroe Bergdorf from a campaign supposedly championing diversity for articulating her feelings about systemic racism, I’ll be intrigued to see which fashion and beauty brands scramble to assert themselves as progressive and pro-diversity as opposed to using the traditionally slim, predominantly white cis models we’re accustomed to seeing on the catwalk.

This feels especially pertinent following the commitment of France’s two leading luxury fashion conglomerates, LVMH and Kering, last week to cease working with underage and unhealthily slim models. Both signed a charter which forbids the hiring of girls under the age of 16 to pose as adult models for shows or shoots, effective from this month's fashion week in Paris. LVMH and Kering will also ban their designers from using size zero models.

Size aside (as, to be perfectly honest, it’s unlikely we’ll notice a significant shift in the size of models just yet), I wonder which designers will endeavour to include models from varying ethnic backgrounds, going above and beyond the tokenism that pervades the catwalks and fashion campaigns. Ashish is one such designer, who is adored not only for his colourful, sequinned collections but also for his dedication to diversity and gender fluidity on the catwalk. His spirited shows tirelessly celebrate the melting pot and richness of London’s multicultural community, with male and female models bearing slogans that read ‘University in Adversity’ and ‘Love Sees No Colour.’ Similarly, last season Brit designer Simone Rocha celebrated youth and old age alike, with an emotive trans-generational show, including septuagenarian model Jan de Villeneuve and 73-year-old actress, model and activist, Benedetta Barzini.

At Refinery29 our collective mission is to challenge archaic notions of beauty and strive to make the fashion industry a more inclusive, representative and accessible space. While certain storied fashion houses are entrenched in their ways, London Fashion Week is notably a hotbed for dynamic designs, unpredictability, a sense of humour and is at the forefront of change. Here’s hoping we’ll be pleasantly surprised over the coming days.