fashionUK

Trying to lift the veil behind London Fashion Week isn't easy. Organisers, The British Fashion Council, are reluctant to reveal much. What, for example, criteria is used to judge whether a designer can show? Despite a dozen or so telephone calls and faxes over the last three weeks, f.uk's questions to the BFC remain unanswered.

Each designer wishing to be included in the London Fashion Week schedule has to first win the approval of a committee and then pay £1,500. This fee facilitates inclusion onto the official schedule and also gives the designer access to an international press mailing list. The costs of staging a catwalk show are extra and the minimum one would expect to spend is around £7,000. In fact, many designers spend upwards of £20,000. "You can spend anything between £5-100k on a catwalk show," says Fabio Piras' PR, Tracy Le Marquand. In addition, many designers will book stands in the Designer's Exhibition at an additional average cost of £6,000. "In our experience," advises Tracy, "it's good to take a stand if it's your first show - it's not so important if you have your own showroom in London."

Sponsorship can make all the difference, but there are restrictions. For example, Vidal Sassoon as the official sponsors of London Fashion Week enjoy the privilege of being the only hair care company to be promoted at the event. This means that individual designers cannot be sponsored by other hair care brands, effectively eradicting a large slice of sponsorship potential.

When BFC approval is not forthcoming, designers can opt to show outside of the schedule. This season, fiesty newcomer Andrew Groves failed to gain BFC endorsement and still wowed a packed audience (which included influential fashion journalists) with his weird and wonderful debut collection. "I think initially to show outside of the schedule is good," says designer Abe Hamilton. "There is really no reason to rush into things. My advice is to take it slowly and carefully, gradually building up the right contacts."