In the midst of quarantine extensions, stringent stay-at-home orders, and a curve that continues to mount toward its peak, much of the typical fashion cadence seems tone-deaf to the external world. To that end, London Fashion Week, slated to take place beginning June 12, will translate to digital, dropping the gender binaries and melding into one homogenous platform.

The British Fashion Council released a statement today announcing this step-change in digitization, as headwinds of the coronavirus pandemic continue to push the fashion industry into unknown territory. “The current pandemic is leading us all to reflect more poignantly on the society we live in and how we want to live our lives and build businesses when we get through this,” said the BFC’s chief executive officer, Caroline Rush in a statement. “The other side of this crisis, we hope will be about sustainability, creativity and product that you value, respect, cherish.”

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On Friday 12th June, @londonfashionweek will relaunch as a digital only platform, open to all and merging womenswear and menswear in light of the current environment, for designers to tell their stories through collections, creative collaborations, podcasts and videos. www.londonfashionweek.co.uk will be accessible to all audiences; embracing the cultural commentary, creativity and humorous spirit for which British Fashion and London are known. Sign up to be notified when the platform launches and experience #LFW as a digital event this June via link in bio.

A post shared by British Fashion Council (@britishfashioncouncil) on Apr 20, 2020 at 11:44pm PDT

The three-day-long event will see “multimedia content from designers, creatives, artists and brand partners” in the shape of interviews, podcasts, diaries, e-commerce, webinars, digital showrooms, and presentations from both seasoned and fledgling designers. “Many of our businesses have always embraced London Fashion Week as a platform for not just fashion, but for its influence on society, identity and culture,” Rush told WWD. “By creating a cultural fashion week platform, we are adapting digital innovation to best fit our needs today and something to build on as a global showcase for the future.”

Undeniably, the knock-on effect of COVID-19 in the fashion industry has sparked progress and allowed for inroads to be made at an unprecedented pace, yet with hopes of maintaining the traditional four seasons per year (January, February, June and September), the fate of Spring 2021 shows are at the helm of ever-evolving CDC guidelines. And as London Fashion Week typically commences June events in Milan, Paris and New York, we must wait to see if the pivot to gender-neutral-digital has set a global precedent.