Walk, baby, walk! The models who won London Fashion Week

London Fashion Week spring/summer 2020 drew to a close last week and the fashion press moved onto Milan then Paris. We reflect on the faces that dominated the catwalk in London, the new faces who we expect to see a lot more of in the coming seasons and the one we didn’t expect to see at all. From the likes of Adut Akech and Fran Summers, who’ve become staples of the scene for a little while now, to newcomers like Cynthia Arrebola and Ajok Madel experiencing their first LFW, this is our London Fashion Week models round-up.

Adut Akech has become one of the most familiar faces on the runway over the past few seasons. The South Sudanese-Australian star only made her first appearance a couple of years ago, as an exclusive for Saint Laurent. But by 2018 she’d already been crowned models.com’s “Model of the Year” and has landed numerous covers, campaigns and closing spots on the runway since then.

Following a busy New York Fashion Week, Adut arrived in London on Saturday to walk at Naomi Campbell’s Fashion For Relief charity show at the British Museum. Wearing an otherworldly ruffled purple Valentino couture gown, she looked every bit the muse to creative director Pierpaolo Piccolini as he considers her to be. Earlier in the evening she donned a similar, though considerably more gothic, Alexander McQueen black ruffled gown, for the event’s red carpet.

But no rest for the wicked. The following day came Victoria Beckham’s big bonanza show in the Foreign Office’s ever so ritzy Durbar Court. Looking uber slick and chic, Adut’s look comprised of a symphony of beige, though not that Victoria would call it that. The fitted Saharan jacket and shirt were camel, the polo neck was light taupe, the straight leg trousers were biscuit and the thin woven belt was tobacco! She finished things, naturally, with Burberry, before heading off to Milan.

Fran Summers

Much like Adut, we’d imagine Fran Summers gets very sore feet with every passing fashion season at the moment! The model has been tearing up the runway ever since she appeared on the scene. “Fran Summers Is the Yorkshire Teen Turned SS18 Favourite” Vogue wrote after her first big season. Two years later and it’s hard to imagine what fashion week looks like without her.

This season she kicked things off on Friday by opening and closing for her fellow Yorkshire born and bred designer Matty Bovan. However, you’d be forgiven for missing her, given that her opening look included of a perspex rectangle across her face, distorting and warping her features into strange proportions. The next she looked a little more like her usual self at Naomi’s Fashion For Relief event, wearing a simple white Burberry dress. Her and Adut could be spotted on the arm of British Vogue Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful later that night.

Just like Adut, she was back on the runway for Victoria Beckham the following day, before rounding things off with Burberry with a ruffled white evening dress and a classic beige skirt and blazer.

Argentinian model Cynthia only walked her first show in Paris last season. But, considering it was Margiela, followed shortly after by Alexander McQueen, things got off to a pretty good start. Since then she’s done Heron Preston at New York menswear in June, walked for Valentino at couture week and appeared on the pages of Vogue Russia. But this season she really means business. Arriving in London to open the highly-anticipated Victoria Beckham show, Cynthia exemplified the power of good layering with her long natural trench coat, two-piece houndstooth suit, big sunnies and woven loafers. The next day she rounded off a big debut season at Burberry in a dress complete with the words “I AM A UNICORN”.

Ajok Madel

Hailing from Sydney, Australia, this is Ajok Madel’s first big fashion season and, even though we haven’t even made it to Milan and Paris yet, she’s already racking up some big names. Her first London show? Closing Victoria Beckham!

Edie Campbell

The elusive Edie Campbell doesn’t walk the London runways as much as she used to. Once a staple of the Burberrys, McQueens, Westwoods, Beckhams, these days you’re more likely to find her riding horseback in a field in Somerset than pacing the catwalks of London. Though she is known to crop up here and there. So it’s always a delight when she makes the odd appearance, and for London Fashion Week spring/summer 2020, the born and bred Londoner closed her close friend Molly Goddard’s show. Taking to Instagram after the show, Edie wrote how a horse accident had left her worried she’d never walk a fashion show again earlier this year. We’re thrilled to see she made a speedy recovery and a triumphant return.

Agyness Deyn

Perhaps the most elusive of all, we had to check twice when we saw Agyness Deyn on the Burberry catwalk. Back in 2012, she announced her retirement from fashion, in order to pursue a career in acting instead. She’s since picked up a few illustrious credits -- most recently as the bassist in an all-female punk band in Her Smell -- Agyness occasionally pops up when we least expect her... I think the last time we spotted her was on the Saint Laurent catwalk in 2015. Sporting bleach blonde hair and a signature beige Burberry trench, covered with jewels, the beloved Northerner still looks every bit the supermodel.