London Stock Exchange celebrates 40 Years of London Fashion Week
The 40th anniversary of LFW
With 2024 marking 40 years of LFW, the year will celebrate London’s position as a world leading cultural capital and its creative community. LFW40 will spotlight London’s creative community and the city as a global, cultural hub as well as its role in nurturing emerging talent and the next generation of visionary creatives.
For February, the BFC will host various activations and events which will ignite the imagination, celebrating the breadth of creative talent and the creative community. The LFW40 celebrations include:
- LFW40 writes a Love Letter to London - Femi Koleoso of Mercury Prize winner (2023) Ezra Collective has written a Love Letter to London to celebrate its creative communities. The letter will be presented through a short film and will launch on Valentine’s Day, featuring some of iconic London’s creatives including Allan Mustafa, Bimini Bon Boulash, Clara Amfo, Foday Dumbuya, Grace Carter, Headie One, Kojey Radical, Kosar Ali, Mahalia, Saul Nash, Sebastian Croft, Tan France and Victor Kunda.
- LFW40 opens the London Stock Exchange - LFW will open the London Stock Exchange on Thursday 15th February acknowledging the significant economic impact of the creative industries.
- LFW40 Lights up London - To celebrate and raise awareness of LFW40, some of London’s most iconic landmarks (including the Covent Garden, London Eye and Royal Opera House) will light up green on Thursday 15th February from 6pm.
- LFW40 Cheat Sheet and Media Hub - To provide an overview into the LFW40 celebrations, the BFC have created a LFW40 Cheat Sheet available here which includes information on the key plans for the anniversary, LFW through the decades, the economic impact of LFW and frequently asked questions. Stay up to date with the LFW40 events and celebrations via the BFC Media Hub.
The year-long celebrations will demonstrate the economic impact of the UK fashion industry which shows strong signs of steady recovery. Recent figures from Mintel show that:
- UK womenswear sales are valued at an estimated £31.9 billion 2023.
- UK menswear sales are valued at an estimated £15.6 billion in 2023.
LFW city wide celebrations
LFW February will continue to unite London in a festival of creativity and innovation through the City Wide Celebration (CWC). CWC is a programme of events and activities open to the public running from Friday 16th to Tuesday 20th February alongside the LFW schedule. This season, the programme consists of 500 activations across 180 brands - these include exclusive panel discussions, pop-ups, DJ sets, discounts, designer Q&A sessions, personalised gifts, collection launches and creative workshops. Explore the programme here.
