Stella McCartney to show at London Fashion Week for the first time

Leading British fashion designer, Stella McCartney, will show a "one off" collection at London Fashion Week in February 2012.

BY Luke Leitch | 21 November 2011

Stella McCartney takes a bow at the end of her spring/summer 2012 catwalk show at Paris Fashion Week. Photo: REX

For the past decade Sir Paul McCartney's diary has included two immovable foreign engagements - the biannual fashion shows presented by his daughter Stella in Paris.

Next February, however, he needn't travel nearly so far. Because for the first time ever, Stella McCartney is to show the latest collection from her eponymous label at London Fashion Week.

In pictures: Paris Fashion Week: Stella McCartney spring/summer 2012

The Saturday night "special fashion presentation" on February 18 next year will, her office emphasised, be to showcase a "one-off" Stella McCartney collection. It will be the focal point of a London-based marketing Stella-thon next February that will see a "World of Stella" exhibition of Selfridges, a new fragrance launch, and the opening of a new Stella McCartney store, her second in London.

Although this mysterious "one-off" collection won't be Olympic-themed, the company will be hoping to capitalise on London 2012 fever thanks to the designer's commission by Adidas to be "creative director" of Team GB's kit.

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Meanwhile, the British Fashion Council will doubtless also be hoping that this London debut of a full Stella McCartney collection will prove enough of a roaring success to convince the just-turned 40 year-old mother of four to bid adieu to Paris for good, and return to the city of her birth.
Certainly, the signs are that British fashion houses no longer need to show in the traditional, foreign commercial powerhouse capitals to achieve financial success: since 2009, when Burberry moved its women's show from Milan back to London, its results have been stellar.
Stella though, remains to be convinced - as does her 50 per cent partner in the business, French luxury conglomerate PPR who also own Gucci and Alexander McQueen - for just a fortnight after her London show, she will present her autumn/winter collection - as per usual - in the gold-leafed splendour of Paris' Palais Garnier. So Sir Paul can't chuck his Eurostar Frequent Traveller card away quite yet.