London - During the ongoing London Fashion Week, British fashion is trying to prove London's importance in the global fashion circuit.
A real celebrity is rare at the fashion week, with even the grande dame of British fashion, Vivienne Westwood, showing her 'Gold Label' in Paris. Stella McCartney also prefers the catwalks in the city of love.
Among other top British designers, Alexander McQueen committed suicide, while John Galliano was sidelined over anti-Semitic remarks that landed him in a French court earlier this year.
Nevertheless, London is 'the freest, most creative fashion capital of all,' says stylist Lotta Aspenberg, who lives on the Thames.
The London Fashion Week is 'enormously important because it simultaneously shows young and established fashion from London,' she believes.
The shows from Burberry Prorsum, Christopher Kane, Giles and Tom Ford are a must for Aspenberg.
But her 'favourite place for fashion shows,' she admits, is Paris.
In comparison with the fashion weeks in New York, Milan and Paris, London has always had difficulties. The glitz of Manhattan seems impossible to beat, at least since the cult TV series Sex and the City.
Victoria Beckham may once have modelled at London Fashion Week, but now, as a fashion designer, she presents her collection on the Hudson.
French and Italian competitors can look back on a long tradition of quality and elegance. Luxury brands like Gucci and Channel are now particularly desired in the major Asian markets. Fashion gurus, celebrities, top models and journalists flock to the fashion weeks of Paris and Milan.
Cities like Berlin or Brussels - creative strongholds with open spaces and affordable living costs - attract mainly young designer talent.
'Cool Britannia,' initially made chic by supermodel Kate Moss and clothing brands like Burberry, may be over. Check and paisley, tweed and wool have lost their appeal.
Nevertheless, London continues to offer its inherent blend of freedom and creativity, art, fashion and culture, money and global reach.
'I need the modernity on the street,' says Alistair Carr, director of design at Pringle. 'That does not exist anywhere else in the world.'
The industry has high hopes for the 'Kate effect.' Crown Prince William's wife Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, is a fan of British fashion, especially the brands Issa, Temperley and Erdem.
Following the duchess' wedding to Prince William in April, her British-designed wedding dress is now on show at Buckingham Palace. 'It is great that Kate wears British labels,' says PPQ designer Percy Parker says. 'It is fantastic for the High Street.'
The fashion industry also wants to benefit from the 2012 London Olympics. The British Fashion Council has started a marketing campaign.
'We want to show the world that Great Britain is the driving force of the global creative scene,' says organization boss Harold Tillman.
