The Daily Telegraph: Lina Bukhari on Craft, Culture and the Future of British Fashion

The following is an extract from an extended interview published in The Daily Telegraph on 18 November 2024.

On the question of whether British fashion has a distinct identity in the current global landscape, Bukhari is characteristically direct. "Britain has always produced extraordinary creative talent. The question is whether the industry structures exist to sustain that talent beyond the first flush of recognition."

"There are embroiderers, weavers, and pattern makers in Britain whose skills are extraordinary and whose livelihoods are precarious," she says. "Part of what I am trying to do is create the demand that makes their work economically viable. Fashion has a responsibility to sustain the crafts that give it its cultural depth."

On sustainability, she pushes back gently on what she describes as "the tendency to reduce sustainability to materials." "The most sustainable thing a garment can do is be loved and worn for years. Design has to earn that loyalty."