UK men's fashion ends with star-studded bash

London Collections Men drew to a close on Wednesday (Jan 9) evening with a star-studded bash at hotspot Sketch in London's busy west end.

The likes of One Direction's Harry Styles and Jessie J rubbed shoulders with design elite such as Sir Paul Smith and Tommy Hilfiger.

The event was hosted by Dylan Jones, who is chair of London Collections Men and musician Tinie Tempah, who is part of the menswear committee.

It's the second year London has allocated dedicated days to men's fashion.

Organized by the British Fashion Council and GQ Editor Dylan Jones, this year's event ran over three days and featured more than 60 designers.

It's taken a long time for men's fashion to be recognized for its own merits. Jones puts it down to "a generational thing."

"My father had no interest in fashion but in the last 30, 40 years men have really started to have a keen interest in fashion and now we shop like women, " explained Jones. "And actually it's responsible, menswear is responsible for 50% of the clothing market in this country, and you speak to anyone whether it's the high street, mid market or the luxury end and menswear is in the ascendancy, menswear is growing faster than women's wear."

From Monday to Wednesday, shows and events were held across London with the likes of Alexander McQueen and Tom Ford showing on the same bill as rising stars such as Lou Dalton, Sibling and Rake.

Andreas Kronthaler, the husband of Vivienne Westwood and a designer himself, welcomed the opportunity to show his menswear.

"I hope it gets bigger and bigger. I've heard that so many people came in from international press and buyers and maybe next season we can really do a more bigger presentation or even a runway show, I don't know. I'd love to, I'd absolutely love to because there is no where like London really," he told the Associated Press during the Westwood presentation in Harrods car park Tuesday.

Another designer who's been showing in London and globally for years is James Long. He showed at last year's first Mens Collections and really felt a positive impact on his business as a result.

"For it to actually happen last season the impact in sales is brilliant because you're on the right international sales schedule, so it was really a lot more about the making menswear viable and making it actually an international platform rather than just showing in London at the right time and the support from the big brands now," said Long.

" You know (Alexander) McQueen's here. From when I started it's quite amazing that we're here now and there's such a wealth of talent, young designers as well who are so commercially ready as well, I wasn't at that stage but now, they're ready, they're producing, they're selling to the whole thing there's a real community and people are putting a lot of hard work into it. I think it's great, and thanks to Lulu Kennedy and Topman really."

For committee member and recording artist Tinie Tempah, getting to see some new names has been a key feature and also an inspiration for his own design line.

"I saw Katy Eary today who was amazing and Lee Roach a couple of days back and these are people that you hear a little bit of but you don't really get to see their work, so this is the perfect opportunity for that to happen and definitely inspires what we do as well."

Nex year's London Collections Men event will take place in June.