London Fashion Week is back, and is celebrating 40 years in the industry by doing what it does best – showcasing what’s hot on the catwalk, with more than 250 designers.

Currently part of the Big Four fashion weeks alongside New York, Milan and Paris, LFW is now recognised globally.

Lynne Franks, who had her own PR agency, was keen to showcase the capital’s fashion talent, including her clients.

“It was very clear we were not taken seriously by international press and retailers [at the time],” Franks told the BBC.

She added that she was instrumental in setting up London Fashion Week, external, along with her colleague, Annette Worsley-Taylor, who ran the London Designers Collection.

But funding was a big challenge.

They managed to secure some from the British Fashion Council.

Franks also asked one her PR clients, Mohan Mujarni, who launched fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger for some money.

He agreed, and Franks said that “this made it the first time London ever had a central venue”.

She wanted to find somewhere she could launch the young designers and models she wanted to promote.

One venue that caught her eye was the lawn outside the Commonwealth Institute, which is now known as the Design Museum in the capital’s Holland Park.

The lawn was big enough to pitch a tent, so that is where the first fashion show for LFW was held – under canvas – like some of the fashion shows in Paris and Milan.