London has McQueen back — and it changes the shape of fashion week

London Fashion Week runs from 17 to 21 September, and the provisional schedule looks weightier than it has in recent seasons: shows, presentations, experimental formats and, above all, the return of names long absent from the city.

The headline is McQueen, under Seán McGirr, showing at home again. The decision was reportedly pushed through by new chief executive Gianfranco D’Attis, who took the post in June. The second significant entry: Christopher Kane will debut a collection for Mulberry, where he was appointed creative director in March, years after his own label closed in 2023.

In the same best-of-British spirit, Marks & Spencer will mark a hundred years in fashion with a joint menswear and womenswear show in see-now-buy-now format. The week opens with a Barbour presentation and closes with Burberry.

The backbone of the schedule is its regulars: Erdem, Simone Rocha, Ashley Williams, Harris Reed, Emilia Wickstead, Knwls, Ahluwalia, Roksanda, Richard Quinn, Natasha Zinko. Chopova Lowena, after last year’s crazy-golf presentation, returns to a conventional runway. Among the highlights are Paolo Carzana and Aaron Esh, who doubles as creative director of AllSaints.

There are plenty of newcomers. Sweden’s Petra Fagerström makes her runway debut, with Francesca Lake and Gui Rosa staging first presentations; all three are supported by the British Fashion Council’s NewGen programme in partnership with Pull&Bear. Other grant recipients return: A Letter, Charlie Constantinou, Ewusie, Johanna Parv, Liza Keane, Octi, Oscar Ouyang, Pauline Dujancourt, Steve O Smith, The Ouze, Yaku. Added to the list are Geordie Campbell, the Indian minimalist label Lovebirds and Joyce Bao, a graduate of the Paul Smith foundation.

This is the third fashion week since the council was relaunched under Laura Weir, a journalist who has worked at British Vogue, Selfridges and the Evening Standard. Her line: not a London-centric organisation but a connected, decentralised incubator that puts designers first. “I intend to develop the mentoring side so that it covers business sustainability,” Weir has said. “You might want a modest business with a small team and a quiet life, or you might want to grow into a multimillion-pound company. Both are fine. What matters is that we teach designers to spend the money they get from us well.”

A separate strand is retail. A jewellery collection will be shown at the Dover Street Market concept store; a vintage show staged with eBay will let viewers buy during the livestream; and points of interest devoted to London designers will be placed through the Selfridges flagship. H&M, after last year’s debut, returns with a reworked show format made with the photographer Nick Knight. Lulu Kennedy’s Fashion East programme stays on the schedule: last year the council distributed £1.3 million in grants and bursaries.