In Pictures: Star-studded Vogue World gets London Fashion Week off with a bang
Dame Anna Wintour brought her Vogue World blockbuster show to London last night and stars of fashion, stage, screen and more came out in force to celebrate.
This was the second Vogue World event to be staged, the first was held in New York last year, and it is designed to be a celebration of fashion, arts and theatre. It also marked the start of London Fashion Week, bringing a welcome global focus to the event, and was also something of a leaving party for British Vogue editor in chief Edward Enninful who steps down at the end of the year.
Stormzy in Ferragamo (Yui Mok/PA)
While celebrities and royals were out in force, fashion was the start of the show, which was held at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The show kicked off with British icon Kate Moss taking to the stage with the grand finale comprising four of the original supermodels – Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington. The supers appeared ahead of an Apple TV+ docuseries (due to air on 20 September) tracking their rise to fame.
Jodie Turner-Smith in Viktor & Rolf (Yui Mok/PA)
Musical performances came from FKA Twigs, Stormzy and Annie Lennox, while actress Sophie Okonedo delivered a Shakespearean monologue. Actress Sienna Miller performed with other leading British acting talent Damian Lewis, Cush Jumbo, James Corden and James McAvoy.
Nicola Coughlan in Harris Reed
Miller, who was last week named as the face of Marks & Spencer's AW23 womenswear campaign, used her red carpet arrival to official announce her pregnancy by wearing a bump-bearing Schiaparelli skirt and cropped shirt (main image).
Princess Beatrice (in Richard Quinn) and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (Yui Mok/PA)
The event was dubbed as the UK's equivalent to the Met Gala with stars pushing the fashion boundaries but with no set theme (like the Met Gala) the looks, while daring in some cases, were less outlandish. Plenty of British fashion talent was showcased including establishment designers such as Stella McCartney and Paul Smith, alongside newer names including Harris Reed, 16 Arlington and Richard Quinn. Tennis star Aryna Sabalenka in 16 Arlington and Princess Beatrice in Richard Quinn were among the night's best dressed combining edge with elegance.
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In keeping with fashion's shift to conscious consumption, pre-loved fashion was also front and centre on the red carpet with fashion icon Twiggy, Rita Ora and TikTok star Wisdom Kaye all wearing looks sourced from eBay. Ora wore a timeless black strapless dress, Twiggy a red velvet suit and Kaye wide-legged white trousers and a navy coat.
Rita Ora, Twiggy and Wisdom Kaye all wore looks sourced on eBay (Yui Mok/PA)
British designer Stella McCartney is a trailblazer when it comes to sustainably sourced and cruelty free luxury fashion and she took to the red carpet herself along with stars Poppy Delevingne and Carey Mulligan, both wearing her designs.
Poppy Delevingne, Stella McCartney and Carey Mulligan (Yui Mok/PA)
New York-based Dame Anna, the global editor-in-chief of Vogue, had been expected to use the event to announce Enninful's quasi successor. British Vogue editor Enninful stands down after six years once he completes the January edition. His departure was positioned as a promotion to the role global creative and cultural advisor to Vogue, though it was widely seen as a sideways move enabling publisher Condé Nast to appoint a head of editorial content, who will report into Dame Anna.
Kate Winslet in Paul Smith (Yui Mok/PA)
Speculation is mounting that Dame Anna will appoint Chioma Nnadi, editor of Vogue.com, to the role. The British journalist is said to be keen to return to London from New York and there is even talk that Dame Anna will also come back to the UK after decades in New York, though none of this was confirmed at the event.
Alexa Chung in Nicklas Skovgaard (Yui Mok/PA)
London Fashion Week gets off in earnest this morning across the capital with catwalks today from Paul Costelloe, Huishan Zhang, Edward Crutchley, Mark Fast, Ahluwalia and more. The hottest ticket of the week will be Burberry, which will be showing its second collection from designer Daniel Lee on Monday. After this the fashion pack moves to Milan before Fashion Month concludes in the world fashion capital of Paris with shows from the likes of Dior, Celine, Saint Laurent and Chanel.
Maisie Williams in Maison Margiela (Yui Mok/PA)
Princess Eugenie in Fendi (Yui Mok/PA)
Simone Ashley in Tamara Ralph (Yui Mok/PA)
Gemma Chan in Louis Vuitton (Yui Mok/PA)
