LFW AW24: See all the backstage photos

Organised chaos, models revving to go, and last-minute touch-ups: this is your backstage pass to London Fashion Week

This London Fashion Week marks 40 years since Lynne Franks – PR pioneer and the inspiration for Ab Fab’s Edina Monsoon – staged the first event near Kensington High Street.

“I started looking around for somewhere to put the tent up [after buyers said it would be easier to view the new season’s clothes all in one location],” Franks recalled this week during a conversation with Vogue Business. “I walked all over London at the time, and finally, I came across what was then the Commonwealth Institute, which is now the Design Museum in Holland Park. And they had a big lawn at the front and lovely indoor spaces as well. But then I had to find the money to pay for the tent. I was doing PR for Gloria Vanderbilt Jeans, which belonged to a man called Mohan Murjani. He was a very successful jeans manufacturer. He launched Tommy Hilfiger and all sorts of things. I asked him if he would give me the money to put up a tent at the Commonwealth Institute. He agreed, and so that first event was called Murjani Designer Focus.” It proved an auspicious beginning for LFW, with Katharine Hamnett sending her provocative designs down the catwalk, while Vivienne Westwood took a place in the nascent front row and a recent Central Saint Martin’s graduate by the name of John Galliano presented his Les Incroyables collection, inspired by the sans-culottes and the New Romantics in equal measure.

Before the decade was out, London had become one of the Big 4. If New York had its commercial clout, Paris its prestige and Milan its sex appeal, the British capital had eccentricity and irreverence in spades – and still does.

On the cards for the autumn/winter 2024 shows, then? The Wake, the final instalment in Simone Rocha’s occasionwear triptych (preceded by The Dress Rehearsal and The Wedding); an edgier take on Emilia Wickstead’s frou-frou florals, which will be styled this season by Harry Styles’s image-maker Harry Lambert; the return of Connor Ives after a season away from the catwalks; and another Burberry-blue blockbuster courtesy of Daniel Lee. As ever, there’s as much of interest happening backstage as on the runways proper, with the Vogue team zipping between shows to conduct interviews with the models and magicians responsible for bringing each spectacle to life. As LFW gets underway, see all of the best behind-the-scenes photos, here.

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24 . Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24 . Photo: Acielle / Style Du monde

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24 . Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Dilara Findikoglu autumn/winter '24 . Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Simone Rocha autumn/winter '24 . Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Simone Rocha autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Simone Rocha autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Simone Rocha autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Simone Rocha autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Simone Rocha autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Simone Rocha autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Simone Rocha autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Stye Du Monde

Simone Rocha autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Simone Rocha autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Simone Rocha autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Simone Rocha autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Simone Rocha autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde

Simone Rocha autumn/winter '24. Photo: Acielle / Style Du Monde