LONDON — V&A Dundee is debuting Scotland Fashion Now, a four-day annual program running from Sept. 3 to 6.
It aims to position Scotland as a key pipeline of fashion talent and a test bed for the British Fashion Council’s latest decentralize vision, Fashion Britain, a national initiative designed to shift British fashion beyond London and embed the industry more deeply in communities across the British Isles.
While the Scottish outpost of the Victoria and Albert Museum had already prepared for a stylish 2026 with its “Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show” and “Design and Disability” exhibitions, Scotland Fashion Now adds an industry-facing live event element with a graduate showcase, designer talks, skills workshops and open casting.
The graduate show will be an hourlong runway experience featuring 83 looks from 26 designers drawn from Edinburgh College of Art, Glasgow School of Art, Gray’s School of Art and The Design School at Heriot-Watt University. It will be followed by a networking reception backed by Mulberry, whose new creative director of women’s ready-to-wear, Christopher Kane, is Scottish.
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On Sept. 4, V&A Dundee will host a designer panel in collaboration with the BFC. It will be the first event in the council’s newly announced National Designer Panel Series in partnership with Elle U.K., under Fashion Britain.
Fashion Britain will span six key cities: London, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol and Edinburgh. Each city will host a curated program of public events, designer talks, cultural collaborations and retail experiences tailored to local identity, while connecting communities back into the wider fashion industry.
Over the longer term, Fashion Britain will undertake economic as well as cultural intervention, with the BFC pledging to build lasting pathways for designers and creatives to forge sustainable careers in their home regions.
Inspired by the “Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show” exhibition, Scotland Fashion Now will also speak to the wider fashion workforce with a hairstyling masterclass, a fashion communications workshop for emerging brands, a session on alternative careers, a runway representation panel and an open casting in search for “fashion’s new face” in Scotland’s northeast.
Troy Nelson, creative programmer at V&A Dundee, said Scotland plays “a distinct role in shaping the global fashion industry, often drawing on a creative identity that blends heritage craft and subversive tradition with an international outlook and a cultural drive to explore and invent.
“It’s an identity that’s inspired some of the world’s most beloved designers, and the industry continues to support our creative and financial economy in return.…Collectively, we want to promote the breadth of skills that underpin the fashion industry, and the importance and impact of Scotland’s art schools in developing the next generation of talent,” Nelson said.
Scotland Fashion Now will sit alongside other Scottish initiatives such as Scotland Re:Design’s Scottish Fashion Festival and The Fife Arms Festival of Fashion in Braemar in November.
