The 6 lasting trends of London Fashion Week AW24

Another London Fashion Week has come and gone, and with the unusually sunny skies came a palpably upbeat energy. For autumn/winter 2024, designers – both emerging and established – really went for it with inventive (and throwback) casting, extraordinary venues and a doubling (or tripling) down on the codes of their respective brands.

The season’s trends reveal a desire to push the boundaries, comfort and practicality be damned. Below, we reveal the six trends that threaded through the LFW runways.

Ready or not, the bubble skirt is back. This is not the bubble skirt of the early aughts (RIP) but a whimsical, structured silhouette of a bygone era.

Go big or go home with sweaters and coats blown up – way up.

The season’s most decadent dresses come complete with floor grazing capes. Call it Truman Capote’s Swan effect.

Whether a decadent detail or a full-blown feathered coat, colourful plumage was the tactile indulgence of the season.

Buckles, straps and leather, oh my! Out of the cloak of night came a slew of looks fit for a dungeon’s dominatrix. Sexy, powerful and less-than-practical, these body-con BDSM moments are the in-your-face reaction to seasons of relaxed dressing.

Speaking of women wielding power, this season’s ultra-femme looks – corsets and bows, lace and boning – were hardly the cutesy, girly girl expressions of season’s past. The dark romance and more-is-more femininity (exemplified by Dilara Findikoglu’s aptly dubbed ‘Femme Vortex’) felt stunningly subversive and more than a little bit punk.