London College of Fashion

The college was originally founded by the former London County Council in 1906 as the Shoreditch Technical Institute Girls School and the Bartlett St and Clapham Trade School, which were opened to train young girls in the art of dressmaking, millinery, embroidery and hairdressing. The London County Council was later abolished and replaced with the Inner London Education Authority until 1986. The two institutions later amalgamated to form one college for the garment trades: London College of Fashion. Cordwainers College is an integral school of the London College of Fashion. The former head of college, Sandra Holtby, was awarded the OBE in the 2006 New Year's Honours. The current head of college is Dr Frances Corner.


The main college building at John Prince's Street is situated next to Oxford Street, just north of Oxford Circus which is primarily administrative aside from the Rootstein Hopkins Space, which is used to house various fashion shows and other fashion events. Davies Street site was recently obtained by the council and demolished to make way for the Olympics crossrail. LCF now have a new site based at 272 High Holborn where freshers week is hosted along with many other student and industry based events. The site at Lime Grove in west London houses specialist facilities for photography, knitwear, embroidery and pattern cutting. There are three other sites situated in east London on Mare Street, Curtain Road (Old Street) and Golden Lane (Old Street) for cordwainers footwear and accessories.