With fashion month just around the corner, the world’s style capitals are getting in gear for the busiest month of the year: the womenswear spring/summer shows.
After a fleeting summer break following the menswear and haute couture collections of June and July, the womenswear spring/summer 2025 Fashion Weeks kick off in New York on 6 September 2024. Those that follow are London, Milan and Paris; here are the key dates and designers you need to know ahead of the new fashion term.
New York Fashion Week: September 6-11
New York Fashion Week will begin on Friday 6 September, with a show by AREA: a witty and flamboyant brand founded in New York City by designers Piotrek Panszczyk and Beckett Fogg. Having now grown beyond its Downtown roots, AREA’s ethos is one of inclusiveness and irreverent glamour, injecting a playful Gen-Z pop energy into its designs: the perfect choice to kick off New York’s famously multi-faceted Fashion Week.
Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk are known for their flamboyant and excessive designs.
Shows that follow will include brands from native US designers such as Brandon Maxwell, Coach and Michael Kors. A new arrival for NYFW is Off-White – a label frequently sported by American models Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner. Under creative director Ib Kamara, the brand will swap Paris for New York, showing on the afternoon of Sunday 16 September.
Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner were close friends with Off-White’s late founder, Virgil Abloh.
While anticipated New York-based designers such as Proenza Schouler are still absent from the schedule, we’ll see a renaissance of returning designers such as Tory Burch and Carolina Herrera, both showing on Monday 9 September.
London Fashion Week: September 12-17
The next show to take the reigns will be London, which is beginning slightly earlier this year to avoid cross-over with Milan, which starts on 17 September. It’s London Fashion Week’s 40th anniversary and is packed with a slew of celebrations from emerging labels and well-established names.
Harris Reed, Patrick McDowell and Standing Ground are among the new faces to grace the London line-up, while veteran British brands such as Erdem, Simone Rocha and Burberry – which will showcase Daniel Lee’s fourth runway collection – will be displaying their new spring/summer designs.
The British-American designer Harris Reed experiments with silhouettes and notions of gender fluidity in his clothes.
Other British labels include Roksanda, Ahluwalia and Aaron Esh. An anticipated designer to watch out for is Derrick – founded by Central Saint Martins graduate Luke Derrick – the brand enjoyed plenty of buzz last season for its sleek, contemporary riff on men’s tailoring. Nensi Dojaka, will also return to the runway after a brief hiatus.
hluwalia has had a meteoric rise since the brand’s first fashion week in 2021.
Milan Fashion Week: September 17-23
Camera Nazionale della Moda, the organisers of this years’ Milan Fashion Week, have decided the show will run a day longer in order to give more time to its calendar of over 200 appointments.
The week will therefore kick off with Rome-rooted designer, Fendi, on 17 September. Blockbuster designers Prada, Gucci, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Bottega Veneta will showcase their highly anticipated collections.
Gucci’s guests brought colour and climax at Milan’s previous Fashion Week.
Leading lights missing will include Tom Ford – following the departure of its creative director Peter Hawkings in July – and Giorgio Armani. A debut to look out for is London-based designer Susan Fang, who will support Dolce & Gabbana on Sunday morning, bringing a fanciful English-garden manner to the cosmopolitan show.
Susan Fang is known for her feminine and avant-garde designs.
Paris Fashion Week: September 23 – October 1
To round off a whirlwind month of style and spirit is Paris Fashion Week. The most eagerly anticipated moment will be the first runway collection of Alessandro Michele at Valentino, who became the Italian label’s creative director in March this year, following his departure from Gucci.
Fashion fans anticipate a more creative and experimental runway collection from Valentino this year.
A noticeable absence will include Givenchy – who is currently without a creative director. Other fashion maestros lacking creative directors are Dries Van Noten and Chanel – both of whom however will show on Wednesday 25 September and Tuesday 1 October, respectively.
Usual shows from Loewe, Louis Vuitton, Rick Owens, Dior, Saint Laurent, Hermès and Balenciaga are not to be missed.
Dior’s elegant style is always the most coveted at Paris Fashion Week.
An exciting collection to look out for will be Parisian label, Coperni, hosting its spring/summer 2025 show on 1 October at Disneyland Paris. The brand’s founders, Arnaud Vaillant and Sébastien Meyer, are attempting to blend magic with realty at the so-called happiest place on earth – paying tribute to the Walt Disney animations of the pairs’ childhood.
