If you can spare a minute between shows this coming London Fashion Week, steer your smartphone to eBay.co.uk. The e-tailer has something special up its sleeves in celebration of the Spring 2015 collections — a limited-run collection produced by London’s top designers.
Produced in partnership with the British Fashion Council, the BFC Contemporary initiative will support emerging U.K. fashion labels through mentorship and sales opportunities. Here’s where you come in. The designers will create and sell exclusive wares through eBay’s first BFC Contemporary Shop, launching in September.
PRISM, Zoe Jordan, Georgia Hardinge, Alexis Barrell and PAPER London will each design a single item evoking the respective brand’s signature aesthetic. eBay users can shop those items during London Fashion Week, which means you’ll want to make use of those iPhone chargers tucked underneath the front row. There’s nothing like the instant gratification of scoring a pair of Anna Laub’s sunnies or a sculptural mini from Georgia Hardinge from your seat.
“Each of the inaugural BFC Contemporary designers possesses incredible creativity and strong brand concepts,” BFC CEO Caroline Rush said during a press breakfast announcing the program. “These designers mark a new wave in British contemporary design, the rise of which we aim to fuel with this new initiative.”
The designers—minus Jordan, who was unable to attend—mingled over plates of salmon and pastries during this morning’s launch at The Arts Club. Though their wares have yet to be revealed, the abundance of midi skirts in the room surely made an impression. Talk, meanwhile, fittingly centered around the various treasures guests had uncovered in their past eBay excursions.
Hardinge recalled picking up a vintage sewing machine on the site, then revealed that her item would draw inspiration from the “sculptural shadows on buildings.”
Oh, and designers, take note. Applications for the 2015 BFC Contemporary initiative will soon be open to all.
