London Fashion Week: Jewellery Is Having Its Moment

London Fashion Week has always been about more than clothes. But this season, one thing felt particularly clear: jewellery is having a real moment.

This September, London once again became a meeting point for fashion, jewellery, design and culture. The official London Fashion Week programme, organised by the British Fashion Council, brought together established British houses, emerging designers, retailers and creative collaborations across the city.

What particularly caught our attention at MORE4ID was just how present jewellery felt throughout the week.

It wasn't sitting quietly on the sidelines of fashion. Jewellery was part of the conversation.

The British Fashion Council programme included the BFC Jewellery Showcase at Dover Street Market, bringing together a curated selection of jewellery from BFC Foundation designers and BFC Designer Members. On the runway, Patrick McDowell partnered with Pandora to integrate jewellery directly into garment design and styling.

This feels significant.

Fashion and jewellery are becoming increasingly intertwined, and the boundaries between fine jewellery, demi-fine, costume, vintage and High Jewellery feel much less important than they once did.

Jewellery Without the Rules

For us, this is perhaps the most exciting direction jewellery is taking.

Jewellery today doesn't have to belong to one category.

It doesn't have to be only fine jewellery.
It doesn't have to contain the most precious stone.
And it certainly doesn't have to wait for a special occasion.

You can wear costume jewellery with diamonds. Vintage with something completely new. A £100 piece next to a piece of High Jewellery. Sterling silver with gold. Pearls with denim. A dramatic pair of earrings with the simplest black jumper.

The interesting part is how you wear it.

And increasingly, fashion seems to be embracing exactly that idea.

London Fashion Week itself demonstrated this mix of worlds, from the BFC Jewellery Showcase at Dover Street Market to jewellery collaborations on the runway and fashion events taking place across London.

The wider Fashion Britain programme from the British Fashion Council extended that idea even further, connecting fashion with retail, music, cultural institutions and public experiences across the UK.

Jewellery isn't separate from fashion anymore. It is becoming one of the most immediate ways of participating in it.

You Don't Need a New Wardrobe

This is perhaps what we love most about jewellery right now.

You don't necessarily need to constantly add more and more clothes to your wardrobe in order to create something new.

Take the same white shirt, blazer, black dress, jeans or cashmere jumper and change the jewellery.

Suddenly it becomes another look.

Oversized earrings can completely change a simple T-shirt. Layer several necklaces and the same shirt feels different. Add vintage brooches to a jacket. Stack rings that were never designed as a set. Wear something delicate next to something oversized.

Jewellery gives us permission to play with what we already own.

And perhaps more importantly, it allows us to create something personal.

It isn't necessarily about following one particular trend. It's about building your own visual language.

A Little Fashion Moment We Loved: Marks & Spencer at LFW

And while we're usually talking about jewellery, we have to make a small exception here.

The MORE4ID team are Marks & Spencer lovers, so seeing Marks & Spencer make its official London Fashion Week runway debut this September was a particularly lovely surprise.

Celebrating 100 years of M&S fashion, the brand presented its first LFW catwalk collection at London's Design Museum, bringing together womenswear and menswear inspired by pieces from its extensive archive.

And it reminded us of something we have always appreciated about M&S: genuinely good quality, strong silhouettes and clothes that are actually designed to be worn.

The collection revisited everything from tailoring and knitwear to outerwear, shirts and archive-inspired pieces, but translated them into a contemporary wardrobe.

Even more interestingly, it was presented as a "see now, buy now" collection, making the runway pieces immediately available rather than separating the Fashion Week experience from the customer.

For a heritage British high-street name to appear alongside London's established and emerging fashion designers felt like another example of how the traditional boundaries of Fashion Week are changing.

You can explore the M&S London Fashion Week collection here.

From Costume Jewellery to High Jewellery: Wear Your ID

At MORE4ID, this freedom is central to the way we look at jewellery.

We love discovering independent designers. We love demi-fine jewellery. We love unusual materials, beautiful craftsmanship, vintage references and pieces that simply make you stop and look.

And yes, we love High Jewellery too.

But the magic often happens when these worlds meet.

A precious piece doesn't necessarily need another precious piece beside it. Sometimes the most interesting combination is a diamond ring with something playful, a vintage find beside a contemporary designer, or a dramatic costume earring worn with an otherwise completely understated outfit.

The value of jewellery isn't only in what it is made from.

It is also in what it does to a look.

How you choose it.
How you combine it.
How you make it yours.

This year's London Fashion Week was a beautiful reminder of how broad fashion has become. From emerging designers and High Jewellery to the British high street, vintage references and experimental styling, there is increasingly room for all of it.

And jewellery might be the easiest place to start.

Fine, demi-fine, costume, vintage or High Jewellery. Mix it, layer it, change it.

You don't always need a new wardrobe.

Sometimes you just need a different piece of jewellery.

More than jewellery. It’s your ID.