Last month, Grey Fox offered tickets to a talk by Dylan Jones, editor of GQ. The event was part a series of In Conversation events in at the new 62 Buckingham Gate, Victoria, London, hosted by Land Securities.
Led by Land Securities £2 billion investment, Victoria is re-inventing itself as home to some leading fashion and design names including Burberry, Jimmy Choo and Tom Ford. It is hoped that this transformation will make Victoria a place where Londoners and visitors alike want to live, work, shop and socialise thanks to its great restaurants, shops and regular events.
Dylan Jones shared his wisdom on men’s fashion, paying tribute to the capital’s style heritage, while also predicting a bright future for men’s fashion. In 2012, alongside the British Fashion Council, Dylan launched the capital’s first-ever dedicated menswear showcase – the London Collections – a ground-breaking move for the industry.
Here, Dylan Jones talks about how menswear has evolved and why, in his view, London is the place to be for menswear.
What drove you to making the London Collections a reality?
I agreed with the British Fashion Council that young menswear brands not only deserved but needed a platform to exhibit their work. Traditionally, they always showed on the last day of London Fashion Week, when all the press and buyers had already left for the Gucci show in Milan, so we bit the bullet and moved it to before Milan, Paris and New York.
Now we use the London Collections not only as a showcase for British designers, but also to encourage some of our big brands to move back to the capital.
As well as encouraging designers to show here, we have created a cultural programme, throwing parties and dinners and making it as interesting as possible. Incidentally, 62 Buckingham Gate would make a fantastic venue for a fashion show!
Why has London proved to be such a good home for the menswear shows?
Why wouldn’t you want to show in London? It has the best parks, the best museums, the best galleries, the best restaurants… it’s got it all. One of the great things that plays so well with international visitors and buyers is our heritage, particularly Savile Row.
What does the future hold for the London Collections?
None of us expected we’d get Burberry, which is now based here in Victoria, to move back to London in just three seasons. We’ve been blown away by its enthusiasm – the scale of its show in Hyde Park was a great statement of its intention to stay. We’re sure we’ll get more British fashion houses to return to the capital next January and, thereafter, it’s simply a matter of building the momentum.
There are a couple of Italian and American brands we’d like to entice to London too. They show in Paris and Milan and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t, but we intend to build a programme that shows we have the ability, interest and attraction here to host these big names.
See the createvictoria.com website for more information.
