London Fashion Week 2015: From catwalk to High Street

24 February 2015Last updated at 19:03 ET By Harriet Hall BBC News Inside London Fashion Week Twice a year, London's grand neoclassical Somerset House, welcomes a tumult of fashion designers and their models dressed in their finest gladrags. The courtyard becomes the centre of London Fashion Week - a far cry from the building's sober past as home to the Inland Revenue. This year sees the event's 61st year, during which more than 250 designers will showcase their collections for autumn and winter to a global audience. For those outside the fashion industry, it can be difficult to appreciate why this week is so important. Indeed, watching the crowds teetering on vertiginous heels, heads topped with designer sunglasses, arms toting handbags and hands clutching smartphones, it is easy to understand why. Yet while it may look like a big party to outsiders, the week is a crucial one for the industry. Some catwalk fashions may seem outlandish or frivolous.... Trickle-down trends “Start Quote

10 Influential Fashion Designers You’ve Probably Never Heard Of It’s curious to wonder why some designer’s legacies are preserved and others fall to the wayside. Is it the lack of PR, no heir to the design house or were they just bad designers? While certain designers of the past are remembered today for their ingenuity or are attributed with the "invention" of a particular garment, such as Mary Quant and the miniskirt, scores of designers--like Redfern, Lucile or Mainbocher--who were widely influential in their time have seemingly been forgotten. The task of resurrecting these legacies thus falls upon the fashion historian, so sit back for a mini fashion history lesson of 10 fashion designers you've probably never heard of but should definitely know. For more fashion history by Part Nouveau, click here. John Redfern - The Tailor Designer English designer John Redfern, operating predominately under the name John Redfern and Sons, was a widely influential designer in the late 19th century. Jacques Doucet - The Art Collector Designer

Fashion’s big brands follow the money to join the wearable tech revolution | Technology We’ve all been there. You rush out of the house to catch the train to work, elbow your way into a seat and immediately reach for your smartphone. But it isn’t there. Cue sense of panic as you contemplate a day (an hour!) It might sound like the stuff of sci-fi, but clothes that double up as smartphones aren’t as far away as you might think. From its studio in Shoreditch in east London, Rosella and her team have been fusing technology with clothing for a decade and have a reputation for coming up with some of the most innovative stuff. Britain – and London especially – has long been seen as a trendsetter in smart clothing. One big brand name that’s keen to talk about wearables is Ralph Lauren. “The technology has evolved to a point where it can now be synthesised with clothing. There will be outfits for our children that will tell us if they’re getting enough exercise, and jackets warning us if our blood pressure is too high. But why now?

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