The British Fashion Council (BFC) has will go ahead with its February edition of London Fashion Week as an online-only event. In a bid to balance being Covid secure, while also ensuring fashion businesses continue to operate, the BFC has worked with the government to agree on a digital-only event.

Unlike last season, when a handful of brands staged socially distanced shows and intimate presentations, among them Bora Aksu, Mark Fast and Eudon Choi, February’s event will permit shows, presentations and installations to be filmed and photographed but not to take place with an invited audience.

Filming and shoots can at this stage continue under the COVID relevant secure guidelines, including Performing Arts, Shoot Guidelines and Filming Guidelines, however all permitted activity that involves interaction with individuals outside of immediate households is under constant review and these guidelines should be referred to regularly to ensure alignment with latest lockdown and tier levels, warns the organisation in a statement.

BFC CEO Caroline Rush, who’s fighting for an industry that is facing incredible difficulties post-Brexit, feels the government should engage to support the fashion industry. One of the main active requests made by Rush was to allow key creative and model talent to travel to and from the UK with a phased introduction of quarantine exemptions for the fashion industry, in order to carry out essential business, to protect the competitiveness of the British fashion industry.

London Fashion Week is not simply a glossy industry event dominated by influencers posing for street style photos, but also an invaluable opportunity for London’s brilliant fashion brands to showcase their work to international buyers and editors. Losing the physical aspect of the showcase – whether runway shows or opportunities for brands and buyers to meet in person and physically experience clothes and discuss orders – will inevitably be a blow for creative talents.