Victoria Beckham and Burberry are expected to be highlights of the first fur-free London Fashion Week.

An audience of thousands made up of buyers, media, designers and models from 50 countries and all five continents are descending on the capital for five days of catwalk shows and presentations beginning on Friday.

Victoria Beckham will join the London Fashion Week schedule for the first time on September 16 for a 10th anniversary show celebrating a decade in the business.

Jenny Packham, a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge, returns to London to celebrate her brand’s 30th anniversary.

The Duchess of Cambridge, wearing a dress by British designer Jenny Packham.
Kate, wearing a dress by British designer Jenny Packham, walks with National Portrait Gallery director Sandy Nairne as she arrives at the gallery in 2014 (Alastair Grant/PA)

The television presenter and model turned designer Alexa Chung will hold her first ever London Fashion Week show on September 15 after debuting her eponymous label last season.

Alexa Chung
Alexa Chung attending the Serpentine Summer Party 2018 (Ian West/PA)

And in another first, Burberry’s new artistic director Riccardo Tisci will present his much-anticipated first collection for the British fashion house on September 17.

For the first time, none of the designers will use fur at the event.

The British Fashion Council (BFC) made the announcement after asking all 80 designers featured in the programme whether they will be showing real fur.

It said: “The BFC survey results reflect a cultural change based on ideals and choices made by designer businesses, international brands as well as consumer sentiment.”

The decisions were “also encouraged by the stance of multi-brand stores who are moving away from selling fur”, the statement added.

Burberry had already announced it would stop using real fur in its collections, joining brands including Gucci, which dropped fur from its collections last year.

A campaign calling for the event to drop fur had been launched by activist group Peta UK and British singer Paloma Faith the week before the announcement.

However, the BFC has not itself imposed a ban on fur being used, and insists it will support choices made by brands at the biannual event.

The 68th London Fashion Week comes as the industry contributed £32.3 billion to the UK economy in 2017 – a 5.4% increase on 2016.

Fashion remains a major UK employer with 890,000 jobs across the industry, up 1.8% on 2016.