Fashion Week is one of the biggest events in the London calendar, with designers from all over the world converging in the nation’s capital to showcase their latest pieces. Attracting numerous prominent celebrities and fashion-forward visitors each year, surrounding retailers are able to take advantage of the buzz to the extent that businesses on Oxford Street will benefit from a £500 million consumer shopping spree throughout September.
Beginning this Friday, the event is predicted to attract an additional 2.5 million visitors to central London’s retail destinations during the following eight days alone. According to fashion industry analysts, this makes September the biggest spending season other than Christmas for retailers in the area.
As a result, Oxford Street stores are playing host to a number of tie-in events designed to attract shoppers to their premises. Topshop, for example, will offer consumers the ability to pick up catwalk style tips from TV star Laura Jackson, and the neighbouring GAP outlet will host a number of sewing master classes throughout the duration of London Fashion Week for would-be designers of the future.
Furthermore, Oxford Street as a whole has joined in on the festivities with the launch of the Oxford Street Fashion Showcase. Designers Henry Holland and Lulu Guinness, TV presenter Laura Whitmore and British Fashion Council chief executive Caroline Rush attended the official launch, which saw 75 flags featuring designers and brands unfurled along the length of the street.
London Mayor Boris Johnson threw his approval behind the wider event, saying; “London is at the cutting edge of fashion, which is one of our greatest industries.
“The genius of our designers generates handsome dividends for our city.”
These dividends certainly begin on Oxford Street, which has long been recognised as one of the world’s most prominent retail destinations. Industry experts predict that 10,000 leather skirts, 7,500 white jackets and coats and 8,000 faux fur coats will be sold during September as shoppers on the street attempt to emulate the looks first seen on the catwalk.
London has now become the world capital for designer brands, with a higher concentration of stores and concessions run by empires such as Gucci, Ralph Lauren and Chanel than anywhere else across the globe. This has seen fashion tourism grow hugely, with visitors from China, the United States and the Middle East in particular choosing to visit London to pick up designer goods at lower prices than in their home countries.
The fashion frenzy is only expected to heighten next week with retail analyst Nick Bubb believing that forecasts for a £500 million windfall for Oxford Street retailers are entirely realistic.
He says; “With benign weather forecasts and with all the big department stores and chain stores on Oxford Street looking in good shape, shoppers will find all the new autumn fashion ranges and ideas they could wish for next week.”
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