London Edge
January 27th/28th 2019
It’s chilly outside London’s Business Design Centre but the atmosphere inside is as warm and friendly as ever. London Edge is celebrating its 20th birthday and the range of apparel and accessories is suitably huge with all tastes catered for from the dark and gothic to the eye blindingly bright.
The catwalk shows this year feature ranges from some big well known brands and also some of the smaller independents. It’s this coming together of companies large and small for the purpose of showing off their latest wares as a collective that makes London Edge so special, and so popular. New exhibitors included the cruelty free Glam Goth Beauty, vintage and retro jewellery stockist Erstwilder and Cemetery Swag who market clothing for those who have spooky kids.
It’s great to see so many brands putting so much effort into showing what they have to offer with many models offering a glimpse of how this year’s creations will look and behave in the real world. While the cat walk has a wow factor, it’s in and around the stands that you can see how a dress will stand out or how easy those boots are to walk in for any length of time.
Hearts And Roses cool pin up chic was much admired, as was the always great range of gothica and steam punk from Phaze. Sheen had some neat simple but effective lines while Collectif’s sheer depth and variety made them a must visit. Most notable was how clothing is becoming so much more mix and match and in particular how alternative fashion is bleeding into everyday and urban wear. Fashion like music is changing fast and London Edge is one of the best places to see that.
Review and photos by Gary Trueman