It’s time for menswear to seize the moment

So, RIP ‘Men’s day Wednesday’ (as some people called it), and long live London Collections: Men, the new fashion week for some of the UK’s finest menswear designers and brands. The one day once bestowed upon menswear was a mere footnote to the more mature, longer schedule of womenswear shows that made up the majority of London Fashion Week. What’s more, the overlap of dates meant a fair few buyers and journalists had already decamped to Milan for the next lot of womenswear shows, leaving the menswear day one for the dedicated purists.

But no more! The British Fashion Council’s brilliant decision to introduce LC:M (as we’re clumsily abbreviating it to) at the beginning of the buying season has given UK menswear a real global platform. OK, the timing may have given the designers a bit of a fright this time around – they had three months less than usual to put a full collection together – but they’ll work it out.

It’s just reward for the strength of menswear in the UK, which currently accounts for just shy of 30% of total clothing, footwear and accessories sales and is growing while womenswear shrinks. From Asos putting its recent strong results down to menfolk’s buying habits, to Burberry posting a 26% rise in sales last year, menswear has never been in better shape and so a proper platform for the sector can only be a good thing.

But with excitement also comes hype. Blogs, Twitter and the web have been awash with commentary, conjecture and complaints about ticket requests and it’ll only get more frenzied as we get closer to D-Day for the designers. But with so much exciting young talent on the schedule, LC:M, ‘men’s week’, or whatever you’re calling it, should do menswear proud this weekend.

• Drapers fashion director / Ian.wright@emap.com