Fashion Heritage

Blackburn has been associated with fashion since its heyday as a weaving town, when it was world famous for producing its unique ‘Blackburn check’ fabric, which helped to make the dresses and furnishings of the rich and famous. That tradition continues to this day with some of the best Asian designers, as well as the renowned fashion guru Wayne Hemingway, calling the town home.

Asian style

Today, Blackburn is renowned across the UK for its Asian fashions, with hundreds of retailers and designers both making and selling the latest designs. This success is reflected in the inaugural, and hotly anticipated, Asian Style Awards, taking place in November 2008. Several Blackburn fashion and beauty businesses are leading the nominations in categories such as Best Boutique, Best Fashion Designer and Best Textile Fabric Retailer, with two companies – Sharara and Rikaz – in the running for the prestigious Greatest Contribution to South Asian Fashion award.

Watch this space to see how they get on!

Wayne Hemingway

Despite being born in Morecambe, Wayne Hemingway is one of Blackburn’s most famous sons and one of the country’s most respected fashion designers. He moved to the town as a young child in the 1960s and attended Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School where he gained 10 O-levels and 4 A-levels. He later went to London and started his fashion empire selling clothes on Camden Market, and later founded the iconic label Red or Dead. A lifelong Blackburn Rovers fan, Wayne now concentrates on social, affordable, sustainable design, creating everything from furniture to housing estates.