This Year’s Fashion Awards in London Reflect the Shifting Tides of the Industry

As everyone elbowed their way to their tables and boxes, it was time for the show to start. The evening’s hosts, TV presenter Maya Jama and musician Kojey Radical, kicked things off with a rousing “Hello, London!” The fashion crowd greeted their call to action with a disappointingly muted response: it has, after all, been an almost unrelentingly bleak year for many of those working within the British fashion industry, thanks to rampant inflation, supply chain disruption, labor shortages, Brexit-related import costs, the bursting of the e-commerce bubble… the list goes on. Turning their attention to the nosebleed seats, Jama and Radical shouted, “This isn’t a shouting crowd, clearly! Except for the fashion students up there.” (That, unsurprisingly, was met by a deafening chorus of cheers.) “You’re the life and soul of this party,” Jama exclaimed, before Radical added: “That’s an absolute fact.”