LFW’s China story is strong on designers, short on commercial

London Fashion Week (LFW) returns September 17 to 21 with a Spring 2027 schedule that spans established houses, emerging designers and high-street retailers — and that puts China across the week’s talent, partnerships and retail. McQueen returns to the official schedule on September 20, its first London show since the house moved to Paris in 2001 and Seán McGirr’s first for it in the city. Mulberry shows the same afternoon with Christopher Kane’s debut for its relaunched women’s ready-to-wear line, which reaches stores and online in January 2027. Marks & Spencer makes its catwalk debut on September 18 with a “see now, buy now” collection marking its centenary in fashion, and H&M has worked with photographer Nick Knight and SHOWstudio on a reworked show format. Burberry closes the week on September 21 under chief creative officer Daniel Lee. Hu Bing Selects becomes an official London Fashion Week partner Hu Bing Selects has moved from a curated slot on the schedule to a named partner of it. The British Fashion Council lists the project among its official partners for September, alongside Blank Street, eBay, Lee Kum Kee, Pandora and Toni&Guy. Model and actor Hu Bing (胡兵) has been the BFC’s LFW ambassador for China for more than a decade. The council launched Hu Bing Selects in September 2024 to mark his 10th anniversary in the role, framing it as a route for Chinese design talent onto a global stage and a way to build closer ties with China's fashion industry. Its first outing placed Shanghai-based label Consistence in the BFC Newgen space, presented by presented by Chinese platform and design house Botao in partnership with Oppo. It returns this season as Hu Bing Selects: Urban Grace Catwalk, an evening event on September 19. Mithridate is the largest China-owned label on the LFW schedule Mithridate is the largest China-owned business on the schedule; the brand boasts 4.8 million impressions on its Xiaohongshu hashtag at the time of writing this. Founded in London in 2018 by Demon Zhang and headquartered in Guangzhou under chief executive Tina Jiang, the house appointed British designer Daniel Fletcher as creative director in January 2025, replacing Zhang. Fletcher splits his time between China and a London studio and oversees menswear, womenswear, leather goods and accessories. The company opened its first store in Shanghai in 2022 and now runs seven standalone across China. It shows on September 17. Susan Fang and the reality of a London-Shanghai fashion business Susan Fang (方妍楠) offers the clearer read on what a dual-market business looks like. The Ningbo-born designer has shown on the official LFW calendar since 2022 and runs her brand between London and Shanghai, returning to Shanghai Fashion Week to hold her domestic audience and retail partners. She is stocked at Dover Street Market, Selfridges, Mytheresa, Browns and Net-a-Porter, and has collaborated with the likes of Zara, Nike, Ugg, Swarovski and Victoria’s Secret. Fang shows on September 18. The Chinese designers showing on London Fashion Week’s Newgen catwalk Oscar Ouyang returns to the Newgen catwalk on September 18, a year after his LFW debut. Born in Beijing and trained at Central Saint Martins, he runs the knitwear label with Yibo Chen, a Royal College of Art graduate who handles production, merchandising and sales from Shanghai. Dover Street Market picked the brand up before it had shown a collection, and it sells through Labelhood in Shanghai. Its Xiaohongshu hashtag has drawn around 374,000 views. Joyce Bao joins the official schedule for the first time this season, presenting on September 17. She founded her label after an MA at Central Saint Martins and works the tension between Eastern and Western ideas of femininity; Labelhood founder Tasha Liu named the brand among a group of new labels she said could shake the Chinese market out of its inertia. Bao’s Xiaohongshu hashtag has around 92,700 views. Jiangxi-born Yuhan Ao presents on the afternoon of September 19. The London-based designer founded the label in 2024 after an MA at London College of Fashion, and builds it around the linen textile factory he grew up in and a grandmother who spun fiber by hand — a practice centered on craft, labor and the making of clothes rather than the styling of them. His Xiaohongshu hashtag has around 74,100 views. Yuhan Wang leads the China and wider Asia names on the calendar Yuhan Wang closes the same evening, and is the most established of the Chinese designers working in London. She founded her womenswear label in 2018, showed three seasons with Fashion East and has presented independently at LFW since 2020, when she was shortlisted for the LVMH Prize. Her frills and florals have found an audience at home: the label's rednote hashtag carries around 3.7 million views. Designers from elsewhere in the region are on the calendar too. Taiwanese label Jenn Lee presents on September 18. Wenyin Jiang shows jewelry digitally on September 17 and holds a private viewing on September 19. Clara Chu, born in Hong Kong and working from London, presents on September 21. China’s commercial investment in London Fashion Week has thinned The traffic runs the other way as well, though less reliably. Chery-owned Omoda took principal partnership of LFW in February 2026, funding a digital hub at the Newgen show space, a dinner with Roksanda and a content series with the BFC. It has not returned for September, and as of publication the council has named no principal partner at all for this season. Although official partners joining Hu Bing Selects include Blank Street, eBay, Lee Kum Kee, Mayor of London, The Londoner, and Toni&Guy. The BFC doubled its investment in the International Guest Programme for February with support from the Department for Business and Trade, bringing a larger group of international press, buyers and commentators to London, but has not said how much of that cohort comes from China. What the Spring 2027 schedule shows, then, is a relationship with a firm creative side and a thinner commercial one.

LFW’s China story is strong on designers, short on commercial

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LFW’s China story is strong on designers, short on commercial

How Bottega Veneta weaved China’s forever it bag