London Fashion Week is upon us and the city is prepped to play stage to some of the world's most cutting-edge and culture-first brands. 

Fashion and luxury brands are renowned for a sense of theatre. Audiences love to anticipate what is to come from the designers at the intersection of art, culture and fashion. The week-long event is the perfect way to showcase new innovations set to influence the year ahead in new and unexpected ways. For brands who want to operate at the forefront of culture London Fashion Week continues to inspire new ways of thinking.

Last year, an array of pop-ups and experiences brought fashion closer to audiences beyond the runway. Steve Maddon leaned on the power of gamification to tell an engaging brand story while H&M capitalised on the cultural firepower of pop icon Charli XCX with a packed-out party to launch its A/W 24 collection. Audiences want a slice of the Fashion Week action and experiences are helping brands to bring people in.

Experience makes room for a deeper form of storytelling to showcase a brand's message in new and unexpected ways. With this in mind we asked industry leaders how brands can leverage experience to engage new audiences this London Fashion Week?

Experiential is the new fashion show. The set design, the catwalk and the ambience are all elevated through exceptional experience design. The most successful brands are blending stagecraft, tech, and storytelling so that even if you don’t have a strong affinity for fashion itself, there’s allure in attending.

Take Chanel’s beach show at the Grand Palais: the spectacle wasn’t just about clothes, it was about transporting guests into another reality. That’s how you draw in new audiences, people who may not normally be interested in fashion week suddenly want to be part of the cultural moment.

This London Fashion Week, I expect brands to go further - creating catwalks that are both IRL spectacles and digital-first experiences, designed to be shared, streamed, and talked about. By crafting environments that surprise, delight, and feel inclusive, fashion houses can turn a runway show into a cultural event that resonates far beyond the front row.

I’ve always thought the best thing about London Fashion Week is this air of exclusivity; the front rows, the private parties, the velvet ropes. So, if brands really want to pull in new audiences, the magic’s in opening those doors.

And that is about letting people actually play a part in it. Most of us aren’t in the room, but social gives brands the chance to make it feel like we are. That could be as simple as running polls to influence styling choices, building the runway playlist with fans, or taking people backstage through lives and real-time content.

Fashion Week doesn’t need to lose its sparkle and exclusivity to be more open. By inviting audiences in, even in small ways, brands can turn it from something that happens to people into something that happens with them. That’s the kind of experience that gets new audiences coming back for more.

(Shh… (whispers)… at London Fashion Week, the loudest brands won’t win — the quietest will.) 

This London Fashion Week, brands shouldn’t chase the spectacles we’re used to — they should craft experiences that feel intelligent, intimate, and worth belonging to. Giant logos and big-budget shows once signalled status, but today’s audiences crave subtlety. Gen Z in particular are fluent in brand codes; they’ll spot the empty noise ten catwalks away.

Instead, the opportunity lies in experiences that whisper, not shout. A pop-up that reveals craft; a collaboration that sparks conversation; a space that feels like discovery rather than display. These will create cultural capital far more potent than another logo backdrop.

And with exciting digital tools at hand, brands can go beyond presence to precision. AR layers, interactive retail, and targeted storytelling will allow them to connect with the right communities, not just the biggest crowd. Finally, it feels like the craftsmanship of fashion houses will once again be doing the talking. Well, whispering. 

So, new luxury is discretion. The experiences that matter this Fashion Week will be those remembered by the few, not photographed by the many.

London Fashion Week has evolved into so much more than the catwalk. It’s about how brands create experiences that connect with culture and new communities. Working with brands like Santa Cruz, ROXY and DC as part of our fashion-led sister agency, DIY Creative, we see how audiences in skate and surf culture want authenticity above all else. They’re looking for brands that fit naturally into their way of life, so the most impactful experiences are those that feel relaxed, real and inclusive, not forced or overly polished.

At DIY Creative, we’ve seen the power of this first-hand. Through our work, we’ve hosted trips with media, influencers and brand audiences that bring the spirit of surf and skate to life. Whether it’s taking people out of the city to experience surf culture on the coast or immersing them in the energy of a skate community, these moments allow people to feel the culture, not just see it. 

Whether it’s collaborating with trusted influencers, hosting immersive spaces that reflect a brand’s lifestyle, or giving people the chance to take part rather than stand back, experience helps move a brand from being noticed to being genuinely felt.

London Fashion Week is no longer just about the runway shows. For brands looking to connect with new audiences, experiences have become the new currency and the most memorable activations are those that balance engagement, inclusivity and authenticity.

It is the immersive activations with a local resonance that cut through. Take the New Balance Pop up Café hosted by Atelier September during Copenhagen Fashion Week 2025 which was held in Nytorv square in front of the Copenhagen Court House to celebrate the launch of the New Balance 204L. The café transformed a busy public square into a brand moment, serving a playful tomato inspired menu and inviting guests to pause and interact. Meanwhile in Paris Vans created citywide buzz with OTW by Vans Checkered Future which took over Sacré Cœur hill in June 2024. Timed with Go Skateboarding Day and Fête de la Musique it merged fashion with music, skate culture and communal energy.

Social media has supercharged these activations. Pre-social media, the public only discovered Fashion Week through news coverage. Today they are live moments that anyone can plug into and share, incentivising brands to design experiences that are open, accessible and instantly shareable.

As London Fashion Week approaches, the lesson is clear. The brands that leave a lasting mark are those creating authentic experiences, like 66 North spotlighting heritage and craftsmanship in Copenhagen, these are the moments that resonate and ripple far beyond the catwalk. 

There was a time when brands relied on one-off stunts to generate engagement. And while fashion weeks have always embraced spectacle, they rarely looked beyond the show itself to connect with audiences before or after.

Today, we’re seeing a shift towards brands building universes that weave storytelling into collections, products, collaborations, merchandising, campaigns and events. Together, these curated elements create a brand-led ecosystem, one that extends their presence beyond the runway and amplifies their relevance within the cultural zeitgeist.

The strongest brand experiences no longer come from isolated moments, but from interconnected parts that build something bigger.

This London Fashion Week, brands have the opportunity to craft immersive, authentic universes centred around meaningful stories and experiences that not only entertain, but also generate cultural clout.

The runway shouldn’t be treated as a standalone event, but as grand moments within a larger brand world designed to draw in new communities, build anticipation before the show, and continue to resonate long after.