-By Ankita Dutta
Condé Nast is set to hold the second edition of Vogue World in London this fall, a year after launching the concept in New York. The event, taking place on September 14 at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane, will mark the unofficial start of London Fashion Week. Vogue World was first unveiled in 2020 to celebrate the magazine’s 130th anniversary with a New York Street fair and fashion show. This year’s event will take on the format of a West End production and celebrate the performing arts in London. Stephen Daldry, famous for his work on movies like Billy Elliot, as well as for his direction of The Crown, serves as a creative adviser.
Attendees of the September event will peruse British rapper Stormzy, actress and musician Michaela Coel, and the Rambert dance company. Additionally, there will be a fashion show featuring global fashion powerhouses as well as budding British designers showcasing their autumn/winter 2023 collections. Concurrent activations will take place in globally-based but yet to be announced cities.
Earlier this week, members of Vogue Club, the magazine’s digital membership program, were given a 48-hour head start on purchasing tickets to the event. General admission tickets will become available on June 2, with ticket sales proceeds benefiting performing arts organizations in London like the Royal Opera House and National Theatre. The event will be livestreamed by Vogue.
This year’s Vogue World event in London marks another big attempt by Condé Nast to boost its events business, which was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Condé Nast’s events business generated revenues of $305 million in 2019 and has hosted notorious events such as the Met Gala and Vogue Fashion Fund, which are expected to return later this year after being cancelled in 2020.
Through Vogue World, the company appears to extend the glamour of those events into a more accessible and scalable concept. It extends beyond North America to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, bringing together talent from each location to intertwine fashion, beauty, and culture with civic engagement. Vogue World is increasingly regarded as a format for showcasing fashion, the arts, and culture, hence has the possibility to generate exciting collaborations across a range of product and service categories.
It is noteworthy that with cultural events and live gatherings having been on pause for so long, the Vogue brand could emerge from the pandemic with new vigor via the immersion in fashion, the arts and culture that this new platform promises. Moreover, it could be an indication of continued optimism in the ultra-premium events business as the world slowly but surely eases out of the pandemic.
