It seems that we are looking towards autumn now. For those of us in the Northern hemisphere, summer clothes are being folded away, while the warm woollies start sneaking out of stuffed winter drawers. It feels only right, then, that London Fashion Week arrives with hand and craft so firmly on its mind.
That same love of handwork runs through a lot of this season's London Fashion Week, taking place from 17–21 September. It's a £14 billion industry, and the opinions formed in those front rows tend to trickle down into what we're all wearing a few months later. This year, keep an eye out for designers slowing down and putting their hands back into the process.
Paolo Carzana, Autumn / Winter 2026, II Risotto
Take Paolo Carzana, the British fashion house presenting the future of luxury. Established in 2022 by Welsh Creative Director Paolo Carzana, the label has earned international recognition for its iconoclastic approach to contemporary fashion. Working with nature rather than against it, the house commits to fabrics, threads, dyes and buttons derived from the earth, rejecting synthetic materials altogether. Regarded as "London's slow fashion poet," Carzana explores the tension between strength and fragility through material and craft, inspiring a new generation of creatives to work with the earth in mind.
Phoebe English, from the 'Lost Touch' collection. Autumn/Winter 2026.
Phoebe English is also a case in point. Founded in 2011 and made entirely in London from a single South London studio, the label pays close attention to detail and quality, rejecting mass production in favour of a smaller, more considered footprint. Craftsmanship and environmental responsibility sit at the heart of every decision, from design through to business, and English treats that as an opportunity rather than a limitation, using design to respond to the environmental pressures the industry now faces. The clothing itself reflects an ongoing search for communicative construction, working through surface, structure and textile engineering to build a personal narrative into utilitarian, natural forms. English trained at Central Saint Martins, taking both her BA and MA in Fashion, and was honoured in the Environment category at The Fashion Awards in 2021.
Bethany Williams, 'The Hands that Heal Us' Autumn Winter 2022. In collaboration wit hthe Crafts Council.
There's also a lovely story of garments getting a second chance, too. TOAST has just launched the newest chapter of its Renewed By series, handing one-of-a-kind pieces to guest artists for transformation through textile handcraft. This time it's London based artist and designer Bethany Williams doing the honours, her work sitting at the crossroads of fashion, social enterprise and environmental care. TOAST began life in Wales in 1997 with slow, considered living at its heart, so this feels like a natural pairing, giving old garments a new story rather than a drift towards landfill.
Anciela goes further still, with an installation exploring what happens to textile once we've thrown it away, tracing material as it breaks down, set to the sound of soil. Nicholas Daley draws on his Jamaican and Scottish heritage to bring bespoke textiles and music into menswear, Petra Fagerström plays with pleating between digital and hand technique, and Dahlia Razzook builds silk, digital printing and hand embroidery into rich surfaces.
Out of Fashion: Conversations, Craft, Clothing & Circularity
And if you want to get ahead of the conversation around sustainability, head to Conway Hall on 11 September for Out of Fashion: Conversations, Craft, Clothing & Circularity, hosted by Safia Minney MBE. Our own founder and editor Polly Leonard joins the discussion.
So as you scroll or stroll through the shows this month, watch for the textile. No matter how bothered you might be about fashion's fleeting trends, it's always interesting to see how designers use textiles to guide the way.
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Further Information:
London Fashion Week 2026 takes place across the city from Thursday 17th to Monday 21st September.
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Image Credits:
Lead: Courtesy of Toast and Bethany Williams for London Fashion Week.
All further images as credited in captions.