Hola Sugarcups,
Oat flat white in hand and please sugarcups, sit down. You need to be brought back down to Earth. London Fashion Week was all about main character energy this season. McQueen returned after 25 years and seriously made front row gasp with their stunning chain mail. Mulberry had a revival under Christopher Kane and honestly, I would die for their new Bayswater bag. The neutral looks from Kim K made me think more about the branding than half of the decks I’ve sat through this quarter. I’m not going to be answering any questions on the bows. They were the whole vibe and honestly, I’m impressed with how big they were.
Whilst everyone online was labeling them with different aesthetic vibes, the real twist in the tale of LFW 2026 happened 2 tents away. They wore knitwear and their name is Marks & Spencer.
I know, I know. Please bear with me…
M&S had their first ever show at London Fashion Week. Whilst they’ve been around for 100 years, they did a true see now buy now moment. The collection was available to purchase straight away online, in all flagship stores across the UK and select international markets. Someone’s nan and their TikTok brain child were looking at the same runway collection in real time in Britain! It’s not just a trend, it’s a coup.
But why?
Fashion week is a hype machine, we’re meant to feel things about certain silhouettes. Whilst it’s not the most genuine thing, I love it. However, it means we’ll always focus on the prettiest things and not those that are really changing the game. A supply chain is not a nice thing to photograph and neither is an apron.
Everyone was writing about how checks are different to floral, whilst M&S’s CEO Stuart Machine was explaining how it shows the brands’ focus on style, quality, value and accessibility. Whilst it may sound like corporate speak, what it is saying is we used the most elite invite only platform in British fashion to do the most democratic thing any brand could do. The CEO of the BFC, Laura Weir, said “it proves heritage, innovation and accessibility can come together to create new ways to connect design and consumers.” This is not referring to just one collection and is a smart way of telling everyone what London Fashion Week is becoming. Increasingly consumer focused.
(Translation: LFW is no longer a girls night out. It’s now a checkout.)
“But see now buy now is nothing new” you say.
Right, you’re very knowledgeable. Burberry did it in 2016. H&M had their own version during Paris Fashion Week. They live streamed the show and released the collection the next day. M&S were not the first to do it. However, it’s the brand doing it and why it is working now.
In 2016, it was seen as a luxury gimmick. Now it is being used by a value focused brand as their main strategy. The UK high street is in need of all the help it can get and this is what makes it different. It’s no longer a gimmick and is showing how the industry has secretly changed. This is why we shouldn’t be writing listicles about the 7 trends to steal from the runway.
Traditionally there is a 6 month gap between seeing the collection on the runway and being able to purchase it. This causes issues with predicting what people will want, markdowns and boredom. Trend cycles are getting faster (TikTok fast) and production is still set up to the rhythm of the 90s. See now buy now is not just a trend, it addresses the issue and M&S have enough stock and mature supply chain to make it work. No issues with website crashing and everything selling out in 4 minutes.
What this means for the UK.
M&S do not do gimmicks. Since Stuart Machine became CEO, they’ve been very driven by making money. They’ve stealthily taken over American shelves with their Percy Pigs and have truly mastered value. To choose to show their 100 year old brand on the LFW runway in their centenary year and make it available to purchase is a flex. The high street want to be culturally relevant now and expect to see Next, Uniqlo and Supermarket fashion lines experimenting with this over the next year or so. The old designer to high street cycle is disappearing and whoever can say they have accessible British style first will own that sector.
Twist 2: This is brilliant for bricks and mortar.
See now buy now can only work if the stock is on the shelves. This is a great example of how the old fashioned and heavily mocked stores of legacy brands can be an advantage over digital native brands.
What this means for India (And why I’m excited).
India have been doing this for years. They’ve been building up the right behaviors for this type of consumer. Live streaming and social commerce has become second nature for fashion, beauty and jewelry D2C brands. Lakmé Fashion Week has been increasingly consumer focused.
Now Western high street are bringing this into their brand, they’re catching up with what Indian consumers want. India is home to garment and textile manufacturers. This means they have the perfect set up for this. As western brands become more committed to quick turnarounds, sourcing will begin to focus on manufacturing partners who can do it quickly. This is an amazing opportunity for Indian export houses to change their brand and become a quick turnaround partner. This is also an open door for D2C fashion brands in India to jump on board.
Global
H&M had a go in Paris, Burberry had a go in London 10 years ago and now a true mass market 100 year old brand are doing it as a core part of their identity. The BFC are encouraging this. When something goes from a luxury PR gimmick to a value brands business model, it’s usually not going to be a gimmick anymore.
My prediction is that by 2028 see now buy now will be the norm in the industry. The luxury houses will continue to follow the traditional 6 month gap as they want to create exclusivity through the long wait. Whoever owns the wait will be flexing.
The truth.
Every fashion week gives us two types of stories. Those that look amazing on our feeds and those that actually move the market. McQueen gave us the former, but M&S gave us the latter. No one is writing articles on how to style the M&S runway look. Why would they? It’s a cardigan! It doesn’t have the transpiration factor of the chain mail. However, if you want to know where fashion retail is going in London, Mumbai and everywhere in between, you’ll learn more from the brand no one is talking about than the one everyone is.
That’s what I do. Sass, stats and strategic insights. Even if the insight is wearing a meal-deal logo. 😉
Until next time,
Love, Jasmin
