Get ready for the UK’s biggest fashion trade show this weekend.
It might well feel like London Collections Men has just wrapped up – and that London Fashion Week is just around the corner – but there’s another big event on the capital’s fashion calendar that’s worthy of your attention. Taking place this weekend at Olympia, Pure London is the UK’s biggest fashion trade show and throws together over 700 brands with buyers from across the world. With its influx of first-time exhibitors and emerging designers, it’s always a great place to spot emerging brands, but this year will be especially exciting thanks to some particularly important additions.
Most significantly, Pure London will be welcoming menswear brands for the first time this year, meaning a whole host of new directional and heritage labels are joining the lineup. Highlights will include classic tailoring brand Remus Uomo (who have been Drapers favourites for a while now), sports-luxe specialists and tech-wear pioneers SLIMS, and US rising stars Clavon’s Wear, who’ve featured in NYFW and are making their UK debut at Pure London. There are changes for womenswear, too, with the introduction of Pure Premium: a section that will house 40 high-end brands all offering bespoke and couture collections – for when you’re feeling fancy. As if that wasn’t enough to get hyped about, there’s plenty of footwear labels involved too, with a bunch of high quality manufacturers presenting niche and unique designs; Cocorose London, Marita Moreno and Paco Herrero are just a few of the ones to watch.
Between ogling the enviable variety of threads on show, there’s also a chance to get your culture fix. Rudolf Humm – an emerging German artist living in London – will be showing his work in and around the exhibition space, including on a huge backdrop behind the main stage catwalk. Inspired by “fashion and its constant evolution”, Humm uses a variety of techniques and a bright, punchy colour palate to create minimalist figure drawings that are the perfect visual accompaniment to the clothes at Pure London. So, if you want to catch those designers and labels that can all too easily be overshadowed by the big-name fashion weeks, you know where to go this weekend.
