The International Fashion Showcase 2017, Somerset House

For the second year, The British Council, British Fashion Council (BFC) and Mercedes-Benz are collaborating on an exhibition featuring emerging fashion designers from 25 countries, for the International Fashion Showcase (IFS) 2017.

The exhibition is the sixth edition of the annual showcase and forms a key part of London Fashion Week Festival, giving the public the opportunity to celebrate fashion and its universal relevance.

The IFS is a series of specially-commissioned and curated fashion installations featuring work by emerging designers from all over the world. Since 2012, 550 of the most exciting international designers from 70 countries have exhibited as part of the initiative.

The theme of this year’s exhibition is Local/Global. Countries have been invited to explore the influence of place on fashion and to examine how emerging designers can transform their local culture into a global language. Fashion is shaped by its surroundings: the rhythms of nature, climate, cultural memory, social change and historical shifts are reflected in silhouettes, techniques and materials. The peculiarities of place give rise to different ways of designing, making and wearing fashion.



Handpainted details on fabrics

To reflect how fashion is influenced by its surroundings, the West Wing Galleries at Somerset House has been transformed by Studio Toogood using panels of stretched agricultural tarpaulin, neat stacks of bricks and fabric panels dyed with London clay. Arranged over 15 rooms, each of which represents a different country and features designs made by local talent, the exhibition is a sprawling labyrinth where you could easily spend an entire afternoon. The emerging generation of international designers and curators invite visitors to share their country’s vision of Local/Global, on hand to answer questions about their collection and the connection it makes to the theme. Culture Whisper really loved Guatemala's Millennial Moon – all edgy blacks and tribal-esque jewellery – and at the other end of the spectrum, Austria's Material Essence was a nod to the 90's through a contemporary lens.

The exhibition is free, in line with the IFS's vision that fashion should be accessible to all. And, though you should expect the fashion students and blogger-types, Global/Local is strictly open to all.