Brexit stole the show from London Fashion Week — and gifted it to Paris

LONDON — A sleek, leather-clad procession of high-heeled, sunglass-toting fashion enthusiasts snaked around Leicester Square’s luxury hotel, The Londoner, awaiting entry to British designer Helen Anthony’s runway show. 

While the faithful queued in style, B-list celebrities like Love Island’s Curtis Pritchard and reality TV star Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu coolly sidestepped the crowds, slipping out of an Addison Lee private car and straight into front-row seats. Inside, baristas scrambled to empty trays of pink tequila lemonades, as attendees were herded into a pink-tinted room filled with rows of seats. 

Helen Anthony’s fall collection, the designer’s team informed POLITICO, was an ode to the twin personalities of Gemini, exploring the balance between nature and human creativity. Models strutted down the catwalk sporting gravity-defying wigs, sharp-shouldered twin-set blazers and short fur skirts, while latecomers in the back rows craned their necks for a glimpse of the season’s new aesthetic. 

Yet beneath all the gloss, critics in the crowds pointed to the city’s waning fashion influence, and were already looking ahead to attend their next destination — Paris. 

Paris Fashion Week kicked off on Monday. The grand finale of the “big four” fashion capitals, it caps a month-long circuit from New York to London to Milan and, finally, Paris.

For fashion enthusiasts, the hierarchy is clear. “London is more like personal and niche brands, and Paris is more international, bigger brands,” blogger Elizabeth, who only gave us her first name, told POLITICO on the sidelines of the runway. “Both have their benefits. But yeah, of course, I prefer Paris.”

Emma Verdoian, a high jewelry specialist at Tiffany & Co., noted the shift. “When I was in Paris Fashion Week last year, it felt like the whole city was in it. Some London designers have chosen other cities to present their collections, just because there’s more exposure.”

Texting in from New York, stylist Alissar Wynn, who has worked for brands like Louis Vuitton and Stella McCartney, said: “Post-Brexit, very few designers show there. If I wasn’t in the industry, I wouldn’t even be able to tell you when London Fashion Week was because I can’t say that it has a massive impact on the city or tourism. In Paris, you can’t even enter Hotel Costes, there are so many people there.”

As major staples like Victoria Beckham and Vivienne Westwood opt to show in Paris, and the U.K. grapples with the fallout of scrapping tax-free shopping, critics point to Brexit’s lasting toll on the nation’s fashion industry.

For France, Brexit was a gift 

“For France, Brexit was a gift,” said Fashion Roundtable CEO Tamara Cincik. “We gifted our prominence in terms of talent and profile, while a business-savvy French government saw an opportunity … all while inducing customers to shop there for their high-end purchases.”

Less than a year after the Brexit referendum, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a gala dinner to signal to fashion entrepreneurs that France was open for business. Designers including Jean Paul Gaultier, Virgil Abloh and Christian Louboutin rocked up to the Elysée Palace, eager to snap a picture with the maverick French leader. 

“Choose France,” Macron said. “My deepest wish is that creators … will consider coming to our country, and that we get everything in order to make that work easy for them.”

While Macron courted fashion entrepreneurs, the U.K. government did the opposite. Since 2021, international shoppers can no longer claim VAT refunds for purchases made in Britain, making shopping much more expensive relative to Paris.

The British Fashion Council (BFC), the organization that runs London Fashion Week, has urged the government to restore tax-free shopping to “ensure competitive parity” with the country’s neighbors.

In Q4 of 2023, retail spending in London’s West End slumped 15 percent, despite international visitor numbers being level with the same period in 2019, according to recent figures published by New West End Company.

The widest spending gap is from affluent visitors from the Gulf, who are returning to the U.K. in greater numbers but spending far less — a major contrast to France. In Q4 2023, Gulf visitor spending in France surged 132 percent compared with 2019, while in the U.K., arrivals rose 39 percent, yet spending increased just 6 percent.

Buyers and shoppers, particularly those attending the fashion week circuit, are choosing to spend in Paris over London.

Caroline Rush, chief executive of BFC, explained: “It goes New York, London, Milan, Paris. So actually, when all the buyers have been and seen the shows, they’re then buying the product in Paris.”

She pointed to the consumer effect. “Quite often, a luxury consumer will come to London … then Paris. That luxury customer, when they’re here, might have a look at the shops. But if they’re going to be going to Paris and they can get that same product at a discount, they’ll just buy it in Paris.”

International shoppers can also claim VAT relief if items purchased in the U.K. are directly sent to their home country as exports.

Charles Taylor, a U.K.-based fashion concierge founder serving African clients, and owner of Inner Circle talent agency, said that this has majorly impacted the role of personal shoppers.

“Harrods or Selfridges are able to offer a tax-free shopping service for clients if the item leaves the department store to their home address,” he said. “It’s not a great thing for us service-based external buyers, as there’s no more need for clients to contact us when they can contact stores with brands they can have access to.”

Loss of talent and funding 

Brexit has also cut off crucial funding for young designers. Charles Jeffrey, the creative director of fashion house Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY, who showcased at Somerset House during London Fashion Week, said “leaving the European Union changed the British fashion landscape drastically,” particularly when it comes to funding.

“Companies that once received funding from the ERDF [the European Development Fund] helped platforms like Centre For Fashion Enterprise, who supported incubator programs like Fashion East and NEWgen,” he said. “This gave these schemes support and the space to thrive, which is super important to kickstart and maintain brands.”

One such emerging artist is Abigail Hodges, who launched her sustainable fashion brand, FOTU, from her bedroom during the pandemic. Hodges says the increased cost of importing her materials, which she sources from Greece, has made life even harder.

Hodges doesn’t outsource labor, which she views as increasingly difficult due to the complexities of cross-border living and clunky bureaucracy. “Everything is more expensive. Everything is way harder,” she explained. “Probably more and more fashion brands will be leaving the U.K. because it’s just so expensive to stay here.”

For Hodges, London Fashion Week has become an unaffordable dream for many emerging designers. The cost of showcasing just a few looks at Fashion Week can easily exceed £7,000. “I’ve also been part of shows where other designers are showing for the first time. And normally, honestly, it ends up with them bankrupting themselves.”

“You do the show and put everything into it. If you don’t have the correct PR around you and you don’t get picked up, you’re just left with no money to put into the next collection,” Hodges said.

A city losing its thread

Rush is set to leave the British Fashion Council after 16 years supporting London Fashion Week. “I have loved every minute of it,” she said. “But there comes a point where you need a new challenge.”

As a member of the U.K. government’s Creative Industries Taskforce, which informs its Industrial Strategy, she continues to push for policy changes — including the reinstatement of tax-free shopping and funding for independent designers.

Trade remains a major sticking point. With the U.K. locked in trade negotiations with India and Gulf states, and a scheduled review of the U.K.-EU trade agreement coming up next year, Rush is pushing for fashion to be properly considered in these talks.

Anthony, the designer whose show was held at The Londoner, acknowledges that, “as a brand that uses British fabrics and keeps production local, [they’ve] been fortunate to avoid many of the logistical challenges others have faced post-Brexit.”

Many others have not been so lucky.

According to Retail Economics, British clothing exports fell by more than 60 percent, from £7.4 billion in 2019 to £2.7 billion in 2023. Smaller brands, in particular, have struggled due to a cocktail of Brexit-induced red tape, extra taxes on goods and complicated customs checks. While big brands can manage the extra paperwork, smaller businesses have chosen to stop selling to Europe altogether.

Before stepping away from her role, POLITICO asked Rush about her favorite part of London Fashion Week.

“The energy in that room is really spine-tingling,” she said. “They’re literally only 10 minutes long, but you have these bursts of energy and emotion that are expressed through incredible creativity and design.”

As the last models exited the runway, and the final bursts of energy faded in London, the fashion elite were already preparing to board the Eurostar to Gare du Nord with the giddy sensation that the headline act was now about to begin.