The British Shows Spring/Summer 2018
The trade show sector for the British fashion industry has been
segmented for many years, to the annoyance of many British and
international buyers. It began with the closure of the once mighty
‘London Designer Exhibition’ in the mid 80s, which then gave way to smaller fashion events in London and Birmingham. Since then the
show scene has been widened, with buyers now having a choice of four major shows.
By Carole Denford
This season Pure and Scoop took place in July, MODA in August and London Fashion Week in June for the men’s, and September for the ladies’ show. Not only is the industry diverse in its presentation, it sadly does not gel together on the calendar.
Accessory companies show mainly at Pure, MODA and at London Fashion Week (LFW), where a collective of new millinery designers present contemporary collections under the Headonism banner. This opportunity, given to new and innovate milliners since 2009, was set up by Stephen Jones in conjunction with the British Fashion Council and has given international opportunities to many outstanding designers. This season LFW produced the most creative and the most inspiring headwear collections, Pure was flat, and MODA showed mainly for the mainstream occasionwear market, a huge sector for ladies’ hats, especially for the smaller independent stores within UK.
Pure
23 - 25 July 2017 London Olympia
One of the many fashion shows at Pure, where hats and headwear were an important accessory
Pure is London’s most visited show for affordable fashion brands. It has a more international flavour and offers a clean division between ladies’, men’s, young fashion (Spirit), accessories and shoes. Clothing is located on ground level, and accessories and shoes are in booths surrounding the two balconies on the first floor. Pure also offers well- presented and trend-led fashion shows
26 | the hat magazine #75
and a creative line-up of seminars on all areas of the industry. Business celebrities this season included Pam Hogg, one of the UK’s most diverse, confident and long-standing designers, who took to the stage for a personal appearance. A champion of individuality, Pam Hogg spoke out to buyers stating: “If you keep offering the same things then fashion becomes stagnant. So you must offer something new and unknown. If you buy safe that is all people will buy – therefore you must add pieces to your collection to present new directions each season. In this way you will be promoting new designers to grow and championing new ideas. So keep it exciting by showing you are adventurous!” However, with all these ‘positive ingredients’ Pure was, we discovered, pretty slow for accessories. Maybe July is too early for London and for headwear, maybe Olympia is not situated in the most inspiring part of London, and the high cost of stands tends to discourage new young talent from exhibiting here. Whatever the reason, at least one, maybe two, of the headwear brands we visited will sadly not be attending next season.
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