BFC To Launch Fashion Fund

2 months ago 17th Sep 09:37

The British Fashion Council have announced the launch of the UK's largest ever fashion fund.

London already has the best reputation in the world for nurturing young design talent, so this new project will strengthen this statement even further, as the Chairman of the BFC, Harold Tillman unveiled his new plans.

"The BFC Fashion Fund is set to become the single most significant thing to hit British design in my lifetime," Tillman said at Downing Street last night, where he attended a party hosted by the Prime Minister's wife, Sarah Brown, in celebration of 25 years of London Fashion Week.

"This will allow us to make a real difference to exciting businesses, assisting them to grow and develop here."

And clearly the fashion pack were behind the BFC's decision, as Vivienne Westwood, Naomi Campbell, Matthew Williamson, Julien Macdonald and Erin O'Connor were among those in the audience last night.

"If I think back to my time at the London College of Fashion in the early Sixties, when I was a student, none of us had a clue that we were at the start of something that was going to be this big. None of us had a clue that British fashion would take the world by storm. And certainly none of us had a clue that British fashion would become a five billion pound, and growing, industry," he said. "I have seen every step of this journey, and let me tell you one thing. British fashion is what it is today for one reason: Talent."

The fund, which will be available to designers from November 2009, is part of various initiatives marking 25 years of the British Fashion Council, 25 years of London Fashion Week and 25 years of the Designer of the Year Award.