The gender binary is officially out this year as the British Fashion Council has announced London Fashion Week will be going gender neutral.
The council announced the move in a press statement Tuesday, CNN reported. The transition to a gender neutral event halts London Fashion Week Men’s, launched in 2012. The combined format comes as the fashion industry grapples with the coronavirus fallout, forcing retailers and designers alike to adopt a more flexible approach.
In a statement, the British Fashion Council said a combined Fashion Week would provide that flexibility while also reflecting the event’s influence on shifting notions of “society, identity and culture” within the city.
“The current pandemic is leading us all to reflect more poignantly on the society we live in and how we want to live our lives and build businesses when we get through this,” said Caroline Rush, CEO of the British Fashion Council. “The other side of this crisis, we hope will be about sustainability, creativity and product that you value, respect, cherish.”
As CNN noted, the global fashion industry has been moving toward a more gender neutral approach in recent years, suggesting that while the pandemic may have encouraged the British Fashion Council to take action, the binary London shows would likely have eventually combined anyway.
The first combined London Fashion Week will begin June 12 and will be fully digital as lockdown conditions in the U.K. continue to prevent large gatherings.
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