Topshop will be dishing out a dose of art and architecture with their runway this year. It has just been announced that the London brand will be hosting its A/W 2013 fashion week 'Showspace' at Tate Tanks - the raw, industrial exhibition space in the depths of Tate Modern.
The fashion brand has developed a reputation for its catwalk show venues over the years - last season it created a marquee city in London's Bedford Square that featured an innovative elliptical catwalk and overhead light feature. The Tanks announcement is as exciting as the Showspace line-up for London Fashion Week, which includes Richard Nicoll, Louise Gray, J.W. Anderson, Fashion East and Topshop's own Unique collection.
This is the first time the cavernous concrete Tanks, renovated Tate architects Herzog & de Meuron, will be used as a space for a catwalk show. The museum's newly expanded space that used to house the former power station's oil tanks is usually a venue for performance art and film. Last September, Jonathan Saunders showed his S/S 2013 collection in a freestyle show-cum-performance artwork in the Tanks lobby.
Topshop has grown into London's biggest supporter of emerging fashion talent. Since taking on sponsorship of the British Fashion Council's NewGen scheme in 2001, it has furthered the careers of established London names such as Christopher Kane, Mary Katrantzou and Erdem.
The retailer is also a proponent of young designers. This year the Oxford Street flagship will redesign its Boutique section with a ceiling-grid concept by a student from the Royal College of Art's new interior design MA programme. Rob Vinall's interior won a competition geared toward members of the inaugural MA class.
As well as Topshop's own Unique collection, the Showspace in the raw, industrial depths of Tate Modern will also play host to the collections of Richard Nicoll, Louise Gray, J.W. Anderson, Fashion East.
The Tate Tanks space as it looks now, before its transformation
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