Image courtesy of the British Fashion Awards

To celebrate the development and strenghtened reputation of British Fashion over the past 25 years, and to recognise some of the leading industry figures that have shaped and help make it what it is today, The British Fashion Awards in collaboration with Swarovski will mark the end of the British Fashion Council's 25th anniversary celebrations. For the first time the public have been invited to vote for their 'Spirit of London' - the key individual whom they think embodies the spirit of the city and acts as London's ambassador on a global basis.

The winner will be announced on the 9th of December at the Royal Courts of Justice, where over 500 industry leaders, designers, retailers, celebrities, journalists and models will gather to celebrate the occasion. Visit here to vote for the likes of Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Kate Moss, Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane, Sir Philip Green and Twiggy to name a few.

Good news for talented up and coming designers: The British Fashion Council and the fashion bible that is Vogue have come up with a new project, which will provide one lucky fashion designer with £200,000 in addition to mentoring and support to help launch an international career. The fund, aptly named The BFC Vogue Designer Fashion Fund, was launched earlier this week and mirrors that of the one stateside, Vogue/CFDA fund, the brainchild of none other than Anna Wintour.

Unlike other funding projects currently offered by the BFC, including the NewGen and Fashion Forward schemes, this simply requires designers to have international stockists, strong media profile and an established business. The fund will be presided over by Harold Tilman, who will chair the fund alongside British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman, who will chair the inaugural judging panel.

Speaking about the project, Mr Tilman said, "...Designer talent is the lifeblood of the fashion industry. Now is the time for the industry to directly support this talent and sign up to the Fund...There are some strong designer businesses based here in the UK...This fund aims to help our most talented designers to become the global fashion brands of the future."

For those of you who think or know you have what it takes, you have until Dec. 2 to apply, and the finalists will be shortlisted by April 2010.

One of the reasons that London is renowned for being one of the top fashion capitals derives from it's ability to pull through emerging talent and encourage them into the fashion limelight. Christopher Kane is without doubt a leading example of this seasonly debuting of talent, having shown at London Fashion Week for the first time in September 2006, after being awarded New Generation Sponsorship from The British Fashion Council.

Kane has become well known for his ability to pull something completely new out of the bag each season, whilst at the same time maintaining a strong style, and it is for this reason that not only were Kane's collection showing on the catwalk on the fourth day of LFW, but four fashionistas were spotted wearing his geometric velvet and chiffon dress, whilst the crocodile print dress Kane had designed for Topshop was everywhere to be seen both in and out of Somerset House. And to top it all off, Kane is a mere 27 years old.

Read more after the jump

Mention his infamous name and the most fabulous shoe designs spring to mind. So to say we were thrilled would be an understatement when the royalty of beautiful heels, Jimmy Choo, gave us an exclusive interview backstage after the Betty Jackson show, about why he loves London over any other city.

Read the interview after the jump

Jaiden RVA James is the menswear label currently making serious waves in the fashion pond. As the brain child of the British design duo, Rasharn de Vera Agyemang and Jaiden James, both of whom are alumni of two of London's most prestigious design schools- London College of Fashion and The Fashion Retail Academy respectively, the label are scheduled to present an installation to mark their upcoming 5th collection as a part of MAN (British Fashion Council) tomorrow. With their eccentric and somewhat off-beat creations,which often sees their models dressed in straight jackets, strong prints and pleated skirts, the duo have caught the eye of and have had their work featured in several well known publications including i-D, Dazed and Confused, GQ and Out magazines, to name but a few. With all this under their belts, we had to find out what else Jaiden RVA James had been up to and what to expect from their forthcoming collection.

Read full interview after the jump

With London Fashion Week lurking, The Fash Pack caught up with Matthew Williamson. The designer is making the big move from New York to London to show his collection this season, to help celebrate the British Fashion Council's 25th anniversary. In the interview, Williamson discusses everything from his favourite street style inspiration spots in London and why he decided to make the big move.

Read more after the jump

The modelling industry has had a shake up in recent months due to talks of launching a Code of Conduct which aims to protect models from the varying forms of exploitation- to stop them being cheated out of pay, being sent to work on dangerous shoots and being victims of sexual harassment.

Dunja Knezevic and Victoria Keon-Cohen, from Australia, are the forces behind this phenomenom and are in talks with their agency, IMG, the Association of Modelling Agencies and the British Fashion Council, to assist with the project.

In the last 18 months Knezevic and Keon-Cohen have represented a number of models in complaints ranging from dwindling pay to sprained ankles as a result of the models having been instructed, by the photographer, to wear heels on a trampoline which resulted in them spraining their ankles.

Only time will tell how well the project will do and whether its aims can and will be achieved. Until then, watch this space for further developments.

What's going to happen to New York, Paris and Milan this season? It looks like the British Fashion Council have managed to bag all of the big brands from the other cities to show at London Fashion Week next month.

Antonio Berardi is the latest brand to move this side of the pond. He follows the likes of Matthew Williamson, Jonathan Saunders, Burberry and most recently, Sass & Bide.

The designer, who has showed in Paris since 2005 said: 'London has always felt like my home....I am grateful to the [British Fashion Council] for the invitation to return'.

Just when you thought London Fashion Week couldn't get any bigger, the British Fashion Council announce that they've managed to secure another big brand for this season's festivities.

The brand in question? Only Australian cult denim brand, Sass & Bide. "Ten years ago the concept for Sass & Bide was born in London," explained the brand's design team Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton. "To be returning here 10 years later, showing in a city that we love so much and that fuels our creativity is really exciting."

Image via fredbutlerstyle

London Fashion Week's 25th anniversary blowout this September will be a big one - just ask the Olsens - and now Grazia has announced that it'll be very big for one lucky budding designer. Ruth Green, a 22-year-old who studied knitwear at Ravensbourne College of Design, has won a nationwide search by Warehouse, Grazia and the British Fashion Council to find a new Galliano, McCartney or McQueen.

Judges searched high and low from Central St Martins to Glasgow to the Graduate Fashion Week catwalks and came across Green, whose bod-con knits seemed to make instant keepsakes. The reward? Green's collection will be shown in the windows of 10 Warehouse flagships nationwide next month, just in time for fashion week. The catch? She had just three months to take her ideas from drawing board to store.

For the next two months, Grazia Daily will feature Green's blog posts about everything from visiting with Chinese manufacturers to prepping for fashion week. And you can click here for a video of her catwalk presentation on judging day for the competition.