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LONDON, Jun 7, 2004/ FW/ --- London is a city looking for a star. A lot of its homegrown designers have either crossed the Atlantic or the English Channel for the greener pastures of New York, Milan and Paris.

Alexander McQueen who used to be London’s biggest star now shows his menswear collection in Milan and his womenswear collection in Paris.

Burberry and Pringle, although they have continued to show collections in London have their bigger runway shows in Milan during the menswear and womenswear season. Even Jasper Conran and Paul Smith, last of the holdouts also show in Milan.

Among the young designers, Luella, Matthew Williamson and Roland Mouret have gone to New York.

Last February, Julien Macdonald, London’s current biggest star has threatened to move his show to Milan because of “lack of support from press and buyers” was what he told the press.

Even with these circumstances, the British Fashion Council does not have a hard time getting corporate sponsorships for the show. Before the Evening Standard became the title sponsor, P&G Beauty underwrote the show. Other sponsors inlcude Moet & Chandon, Nikon, Nokia, Omega, TopShop and Renault.

So, what is going on in with London fashion?

"London is renowned for being a hothouse for nurturing new and cutting edge talent in the arts and creative industries,” said the Standard's editor Veronica Wadley in a statement.

And from the looks of it, London still is. Yet, why is the city being given the cold-shoulder by the fashion press? The last time Anna Wintour attended a London show was during the anniversary of Sep 11 wherein New York and London exchanged dates. Reason why she attended – it was part of the deal that Anna Wintour attend the London shows.

And that was something that a lot of fashion journalists were wondering about --- are the London shows so lackluster that the British Fashion Council had to make a deal for one of their own to attend?

As a fashion capital, London only offers 40 catwalk shows, compared to New York, Milan and Paris which offers at least 100 runway shows each per season.

Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia, cities, which are still trying to make their mark in fashion, are offering at least the same number of shows as London. While Los Angeles and Sydney seem to be in a spurt of growth, London keeps on losing its talents.

And that is truly a shame because a lot of the big names in fashion today came from London. If we go back over 100 years ago, Charles Worth, considered the Father of Haute Couture was British by birth. Like most fashion talents today, he found his niche away from London.

Is history repeating itself with the current crop of designers camping out elsewhere to make it big in the fashion world?

No matter what the situation is, London Fashion Week should continue so that it can go on supporting young talents. After all, the next Alexander McQueen might just be waiting his or her turn to be discovered.

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