The pride of northern fashion designers

Liverpool is to host a northern fashion extravaganza this summer after the successful launch of a cross-region graduate event in last year.

Under the banner the Fashion Alliance North, hotbeds of talent like LJMU are championing regional creatives and supporting decentralisation to ensure the industry extends beyond London. 

“We’ve got our own narratives, our own vibe in the North. We’re helping give students some ownership of their identity,” explained Andrew Ibi, Head of Fashion and Communication. 

Andrew and Sam Hudson-Miles from Leeds Beckett are building FAN from the ground up amidst growing interest from the region - Manchester, Sheffield and further north. The long-term view is to develop an alternative, less London centric approach to fashion education which is more accessible, more cost effective, geographically closer and will help to dismantle prohibitive practice suggesting fashion and talent only exists in London. 

'A shared interest in decentralising'

The British Fashion Council agrees that the time is right to see fashion artists as a community across Britain and grow a broad talent pool rather than focus on London. 

“There’s shared interest in decentralising fashion in the UK that is coming from industry itself, academics, designers and our students,” says Andrew. 

LJMU recruits 40 designers and 40 fashion communicators to the BA Fashion Design and Communication course each year and the facilities are good – fabrication labs, print studio, a photo studio, a whole art school at their disposal. Instilling confidence is a whole other matter and Andrew recalls students glumly assuming their CVs will get overlooked because they are Liverpool-based. 

Changing the mentality is key. So the School involves itself in events and networks that do just that; Andrew recently moderated a British Fashion Council event which showcased four designers from Liverpool – all of whom have made a living in the capital.

'London is full of northerners'

“There is a lot of Northern talent in London as well - we mustn't forget those identities. London fashion is full of northerners; it’s not a question of talent. Our best students are excellent, as good as anyone but there is a lot of mythology and, to be fair, there is a lot of money in London – and fashion can be expensive,” he adds. 

Liverpool is a place of entrepreneurial spirit, a bit rebellious, where people like to do things their own way

Andrew Ibi, programme leader in Fashion and Communication

For years LJMU’s finest travelled to London to walk the catwalks and pick up awards and, hopefully, placements in a fashion house. It hasn’t come cheap with travel, accommodation and the entry fees.

Last year's FAN show at Leeds, and this, at the Metropolitan Cathedral, the bill for the shows will come in at fraction of the £30k or so to do London.

“We’ve already invited them, the London schools, we can host them for a change, can’t we?  I know they would love the opportunity to show in a crypt under a magnificent Liverpool Cathedral.”

But he’s not bothered if they do or don’t attend. It’s more about giving our students a show and proving they don’t have to go to London to be a creative professional.

“Effectively, we’re saying ‘you can have your own brand here and be proud to be from here’.”

Engendering pride

Andrew is originally from Brixton, London, is a visiting professor at Middlesex, he taught for years at Kingston and has just vacated his positions at RCA and LCF as external examiner. He is still the External Examiner for Westminster. He says, "London has its own energy and purpose, but Liverpool is a place of entrepreneurial spirit, a bit rebellious, where people like to do things their own way, so FAN fits perfectly in helping students find what they are looking for". 

“It all engenders pride, which is so important; it seeps into everything, including how they value their course and, indeed, how students respond positively to surveys like the NSS. Believing in your institution and its place in the sector pecking order also enables you believe in the future”.

The inaugural FAN event in Leeds was supported by industry insiders like Katie Rawle of the British Fashion Council and journalist and critic Sarah Mower MBE.

And Andrew believes FAN can only grow and grow now: “Once you blow the lid on something, you see it's all smoke and mirrors. We have to consider that many designers practising in London are not originally from the capital – perhaps it's time for the North to sustain something brilliant!”

LJMU School of Art and Design will stage its fashion shows in The Crypt at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral on 10 June 2026.