Last week, Boris Johnson and the British Fashion Council took i-D online to drinks at Harvey Nichols in honour of the Olympics, and the British fashion industry.
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When something non-fashion comes to town, fashion’s first impulse is always to throw a party. After all, we might not know a lot of about sports and our claim to the Olympics is minimal, but when it comes to a good party we always take the gold. Thursday night, Boris Johnson, the British Fashion Council and Harvey Nichols celebrated what’s fast becoming the most important year for British fashion, with a swanky cocktail party on the department store’s fifth floor. Filling in for The Mayor, who was sadly unable to attend was Deputy Mayor Munira Mirza, who rang in the celebrations with a speech about The Mayor’s commitment to fashion in London. GQ’s Dylan Jones and Grazia’s Paula Reed also took to the stage before guests including Lady Victoria Hervey, Harold Tillman CBE, Markus Lupfer, James Long, Richard Nicoll, Lou Dalton, and Mr Hare power mingled, Olympics style. (This is pretty much the same as normal mingling, only you pretend to know a lot about various sports disciplines and namedrop whichever athletes Clare Balding has been talking about during the day.) But the evening wasn’t just an excuse to party. As the face of an industry which contributes £21 billion to the UK economy, and which generated over £130 million worth of press coverage just last season, London Fashion Week should be seen as a sort of biannual Olympics, which continues to bring a wealth of business to London, whilst promoting it in the perhaps chicest way possible. All hail BoJo for recognising it, and thanks for a jolly evening!
britishfashioncouncil.co.uk
harveynichols.com
Text: Anders Christian Madsen
Photography: Rebecca Thomas
From left: Dylan Jones; Charlotte and James Long; Caroline Rush; Mr Hare and Rebecca Thomas (photography Anders Christian Madsen); Eloise Hautcoeur; Paula Reed; Harold Tillman CBE and Lady Victoria Hervey; Yu Masui; The Addams (née Long-Madsen) Family; Richard Nicoll and Mr Hare; Thelma Spiers.
