Manchester Fashion Week is an twice annual independent fashion showcase in Manchester, England. It was founded in 2011 by entrepreneur Jonathan Sassen. Manchester Fashion Week has showcased the talent of designers and brands such as Vivienne Westwood, Mulberry, All Saints, and Ted Baker. With satellite events at other times.
Manchester Fashion Week is mostly produced by volunteers from across the UK originally, although recently many parts of the business have been contracted to regional partners . The event draws media, celebrities and international fashion bloggers due to a generous hospitality program. With a series of hotel partners and nightclub partners the event caters for all collaborators very well.
The event takes place in a range of notable venues across the city of Manchester. Previous venues have included The Avenue, National Football Museum, and the Halle St Peters building in Ancoats Manchester.
History
Manchester Fashion Week has featured a wide variety of designers and retail brands, from established international brands such as
Mulberry
''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinat ...
,
AllSaints
AllSaints is a British fashion retailer headquartered in London, UK.La Ferla, Ruth,The Romance of Jack the Ripper, ''New York Times'', 8 June 2010.Smith, Adam,", ''Fast Company'', 1 October 2010.Ted Baker, to up-and-coming talent such as Masato and Adnan Bayyat (whose designs have been sported by
Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...
).
The shows are arranged by industry division rather than by individual designer. These include Graduate Day, Independent Day, and notable final days. Most years have featured a concept fashion show, a ready to wear show, among others. They have always been closely linked with education with close ties to
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...
,
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...
, and The Manchester Colleges.
The catwalk shows feature a mix of professional models and new faces, and some models first discovered at Manchester Fashion Week have since gone on to have successful modelling careers. Interns have played a major role in the operation being sought by
Harvey Nichols
Harvey Nichols Group Limited ( trading as Harvey Nichols) is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831 by Benjamin Harvey; it is headquartered at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections ...
,
Tom Ford
Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched Tom Ford (brand), his eponymous brand in 2005, having previously been the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent (brand), Yves Sai ...
, and
Net-a-Porter
YOOX Net-a-Porter Group S.p.A. is an Italian online fashion retailer created on 5 October 2015 after the merger between Yoox Group and Net-a-porter Group (NAP).
Yoox was originally founded by Federico Marchetti (businessman), Federico Marchetti ...
.
The general terms of the event are to bond a relationship between the higher and lower ends of the market unifying and strengthening all associated.
Within 2013, Manchester Fashion Week saw a postponement due to financial restraints, although returned to great success in 2014 with Spring/Summer shows, with a complete new rebranding centred on the hashtag #MCRFW.
Producing an Autumn/Winter and a Spring/Summer show over a week period involving local and national business will continue to be the method for collective success. The business and trade was eventually handed over to local Universities and Colleges as MCRFW had a great relationship with the fashion education in the city, continuing in there endeavour to support future generations of fashion in the city.