Are British Designers Steering the Fashion Industry?

Last night’s 2025 Fashion Awards, hosted in London by the British Fashion Council, honored this year’s most prolific British designers. Jonathan Anderson claimed Designer of the Year for a third consecutive year, Grace Wales Bonner received Menswear Designer of the Year for a second year, and Sarah Burton won Womenswear Designer of the Year for her work at Givenchy.

The current moment marks a pivotal point for British fashion designers, who are increasingly at the top rungs of Europe’s classic fashion houses. This year, Jonathan Anderson and Grace Wales Bonner were tapped to helm legendary labels, Dior and Hermès, respectively. Similarly, Sarah Burton, who spent more than 25 years at British label Alexander McQueen, was enlisted as the new creative director of Givenchy only last year.

The Fashion Awards results contrast with those of America’s 2025 CFDA Fashion Awards, which were more focused on familiar faces than the vanguard voices honored in recent years. Industry veteran Ralph Lauren won Womenswear Designer of the Year, Thom Browne won Menswear Designer of the Year, and The Row won Accessories Designer of the Year. Unlike this year’s Fashion Award winners, none of the CFDA’s big three are leading major maisons.

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But Anderson, Wales Bonner, and Burton aren the only British designers currently helming major houses. Louise Trotter made her Bottega Veneta debut, and Peter Copping debuted at Lanvin during Paris Fashion Week SS26, while Maximilian Davis presented his first Ferragamo collection at the beginning of the year. And of course, Daniel Lee, known for introducing Bottega Veneta to a new generation, took up his new post at Burberry in 2022.

There are indeed a handful of Americans leading major houses too, notably, Pharrell at Louis Vuitton and Daniel Roseberry at Schiaparelli. A few more Americans joined the list this year, as Michael Rider debuted at Celine, and Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough took charge of Loewe. However, none of these designers (with the exception of Pharrell) has quite the cultural pull that Anderson and Wales Bonner have at the present moment.

The leading influence of British designers is undeniable when it comes to global impact. Japanese mass-market retailer Uniqlo, which has seen record profits this year, named British designer Clare Waight Keller (formerly Givenchy and Chloe) as its global creative director in September 2024. Additionally, Jonathan Anderson has maintained a consistent JW Anderson x Uniqlo line for almost ten years. Elsewhere, Grace Wales Bonner has been in regular collaboration with adidas Originals since 2020 — an ongoing partnership that has influenced recent trends, such as the adidas Samba’s contemporary revival.

So what exactly makes these British designers so successful? Just as much as their geographic proximity to Europe’s legendary houses, British designers also benefit from prestigious fashion schools like the London College of Fashion (Anderson’s alma mater) and Central Saint Martins (Burton and Wales Bonner’s alma mater). Both the London College of Fashion and Central Saint Martins (CSM) are commonly named among the world’s top fashion schools. Known to be particularly exclusive due to its low acceptance rate, CSM is famous for producing fashion heavyweights like Lee Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Phoebe Philo, Riccardo Tisci, and Kim Jones.

Wales Bonner

Universities aside, Britain has a definitive sartorial history rooted in Savile Row, a London street considered the capital of traditional tailoring, beginning as early as the 18th century. What makes this relevant is that in 2025, craftsmanship has taken a central position in designer discourse. Not only are ultra-fast fashion labels like Shein being met with backlash as they enter the Western market, but generative AI is becoming more commonplace in the industry, raising ethical questions about creativity.

What designers like Anderson and Wales Bonner represent is not only the lineage of British sartorial traditions, but their devotion to authenticity and artistry despite rising to the top of fashion’s big leagues. Indeed, both designers regularly emphasize heritage production methods, from Anderson’s classic ‘Made in England’ knitwear, and Wales Bonner’s outerwear collab with Savile Row tailors Anderson and Sheppard.

In an era of the industry where the culture of influencers and ambassadors often distracts from the primacy of craft, it only makes sense that people are drawn to designers who carry tradition forward. Ultimately, it’s their balance of personal artistic perspective and conservation of sartorial legacies that positions them not just as the directors of famous houses, but as the steersmen of the fashion industry’s future.

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