Profile

ARTIST, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, BRAND CONSULTANT, PARTNERSHIP DIRECTOR, ACADEMIC

Lee Lapthorne Associate Professor, MA (Distinction), BA(Hons), PGCE, FHEA

International Textiles once described me as a polymath, “hard to define, but public artist, textile designer, digital technology pioneer, photographer, curator and catwalk show producer are all appropriate titles.” That range has been the through-line of my career: as an artist, as founder of On|Off, the London, Milan and Paris Fashion Week showcase for emerging talent, and as an academic leader.

As a creative director and business owner, I’ve delivered projects for The British Council, Gucci, Jaguar Land Rover, Preen, the BBC, Selfridges, Todd Lynn, L’Oréal, M&S, Peroni, Lotus, MAC, MTV, Brockmans Gin, Cotton USA and John Lewis, with coverage in BBC World News, Vogue Business, Vogue Italia, WWD, The Sunday Times Style, The Sunday Telegraph, The Observer and Elle. I’ve directed four editions of the Clothes Show Live Fashion Theatre and the Range Rover Evoque launch, each winning an AEO award, and appeared on and consulted for Make Me a Supermodel, Britain’s Next Top Model, Lorraine and ITV’s The Passion of Girls Aloud.

Through On|Off and beyond, I’ve supported and championed talent including Roksanda, JW Anderson, Pam Hogg, Jack Irving, Robert Wun, Gareth Pugh, Duro Olowu and Zandra Rhodes, and worked with artists as varied as Jessie J, the Sugababes, and Girls Aloud’s Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding, pairing them with the right partners and platforms at the right moment.

I sit inside institutions and at the sharp end of industry at the same time, and that’s shaped how I lead. I’ve held senior academic roles at UCA, Ravensbourne and BCU, taught everything from BTEC to Masters level at Central Saint Martins, the RCA, Salford and the University of Westminster, and spent two decades running On|Off alongside it as an independent talent platform. That combination is backed by a research practice spanning On|Off’s 25-year archive and a practice-led project on place-based natural dyeing and digital textile craft.

As an artist and textile designer in my own right, I’ve shown at London and Paris Fashion Week, sold exclusively through Harvey Nichols and On Pedder Hong Kong in my first season, and exhibited at the Barbican, the V&A, Mill Bank Gallery and Gloucester Cathedral. I was Artist in Residence at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, who hold my work in their permanent archive, and Practitioner in Residence at London College of Communication, UAL.

“One of the most important people in fashion production and design” Design Week

“On|Off provides an excellent platform and support structure for young designers through its showcasing during London Fashion Week” Boris Johnson, Prime Minister. 2019/22

“Lapthorne’s talent for realising potential next big things in fashion is always spot on” Wonderland Magazine

“Lapthorne has effectively launched the careers of British fashion stars, JW Anderson, Gareth Pugh and Roksanda Ilincic” afternyne.com

“The very best of international degree and post-graduate talents selected by Lee Lapthorne” Vogue Italia

2026 2026 is about scale, with exciting research, international and new partnerships & exhibitions. The Invictus Games 2027 medal design competition, jointly founding Birmingham’s Jewellery Biennial, introducing the School of Arts BCU across Brindleyplace with 1000 Threads, the department achieved its strongest NSS results to date and I was given a new role as Director of Creative Partnerships, Birmingham City University. My role strengthens the University’s influence, reputation and visibility within the creative and cultural economy, positioning Birmingham City University as a leading institution for the Arts nationally and internationally. I created new opportunities with the British Allied Trades Federation, exhibiting the School of Jewellery returning to the world fair Inhorgenta and the Jewellery Show London.
2025 A year of ambition, impact and a bestowed title of Associate Professor.

As I transition from my role as Head of College into a more strategic position across the School of Arts at BCU, I’ve been reflecting on an exceptional year for my team and, most importantly, our students.

This year saw BCU’s milestone debut on the official London Fashion Week schedule, featured on BBC Midlands, students presenting work directly to industry — including a visit from Sarah Mower, Ambassador for Emerging Talent at the British Fashion Council.

Our BA Fashion course debuted at New Designers, winning Best Designed Stand, alongside multiple student awards for craftsmanship. We celebrated further success at the Goldsmiths’ Craft & Design Council Awards, securing bronze, silver, gold, and bursary awards.

We brought students into the heart of Birmingham for the second year running with my conceived 1000 Threads at Brindleyplace, showcased work at Haute Couture Week Paris, collaborated with Dover Street Market / Comme des Garçons London, and launched Ling Chen’s MA Jewellery grad collection in collaboration with Brockmans Gin in the heart of Hatton Gardens, as featured in Rankin’s Hunger magazine.

A standout moment for our city was being awarded World Craft City status, recognising the Jewellery Quarter on a global stage. I would like to thank the WCC president, Mr Saad Al-Qaddumi, for acknowledging my contribution.

I was honoured to represent BCU and the School of Jewellery at the 30th Anniversary of the Queen’s Award, sharing the occasion with Sir John Major, whose remarks on the importance of supporting the arts resonated deeply.

We continued our commitment to the National Saturday Club, which I launched at BCU in 2023, culminating in our 3rd year exhibition at Somerset House, while strengthening partnerships with organisations including BMET, the Commonwealth Organisation, the National Trust, and community-led projects such as Druids Heath.

Alongside this, we launched a new validated curriculum, strong NSS results, improved continuation, and delivered the highest first-time pass rates in the faculty.

Above all, I had the privilege of working directly with BA and MA students, championing resilience, innovation, and confidence in a fast-moving creative industry.

Alongside institutional leadership, my personal practice remained active: curating The Disruptors exhibition during London Fashion Week, including artist designers Pam Hogg, Jack Irving, Zoe Bradley and Charlie Le Mindu, collaborating with AI artist David Szauder, art-directing shoots at David Bailey’s studio for a LFW newspaper created by Adam Guy (seen here), and leading industry-facing collaborations and a sell-out limited edition bottle with Brockmans Gin and Jack Irving.

2025 was about progress and making connections.
2025 In recognition of my extensive international career, research and experience, I was honoured with the title of Associate Professor by BCU. To celebrate over 20 years of On|Off London Fashion Week, I curated an exhibition ‘The Disruptors’ during London Fashion Week featuring Jack Irving, Pam Hogg, Zoe Bradley, Charlie Le Mindu, JimmyPaul, Dr Richard Sorger, Agro Studio, LongshawWard, JSmith Esq and Derek Lawlor, seeing over 800 visitors over a 3 day period in the Fitzrovia Chapel. Commissioning David Bailey’s London studio, supported by L’Oreal Professionnel, I also styled and directed an accompanying publication.
2024 The Digital Fashion Group for Bloomsbury Publishing created a film: Lee Lapthorne MASTER class discussing Digital Innovation within the fashion industry using On|Off as a case study for innovation. Continuing my support for Jack Irving, I directed the launch of his ‘Amphitrite’ titled collection, creating a subterranean aquatic underworld collaborating with Spitalfields at London Fashion Week.
2023 I was keen to explore innovation by creating an On|Off truly innovative interactive immersive experience, featured in Vogue Business as the World’s first real-time virtual fashion show during LFW, with live models beamed into the metaverse alongside and interacting with their avatar equivalent, wired to a performer. The audience also co-created the installation by being invited to appear in the metaverse catwalk live in real time. Reaching out to my Paris connections, I arranged for BCU’s School of Jewellery to showcase as part of Paris Couture Fashion Week with ‘Precious Rooms’, which led to the School being selected by Dover Street Market to sell in their London store. On|Off’s Gareth Pugh catwalk showpieces are celebrated at the BFC ‘Rebel 30’ years of New Gen at the Design Museum, London. I was asked to produce and direct the Fashion District Showcase of fashion and digital content at Spitalfields Market London.
2022 I was appointed as the Head of the Institute of Jewellery, Fashion and Textiles at Birmingham City University overseeing over 20 UG and PG courses across 2 Schools and over 1000 students. I was also appointed to the Textiles Institute board, External Examiner for UCA Epsom and University of Salford Manchester. I continued to push the boundaries of Physical Fashion Showcasing and Digital Fashion sales by collaborating with NFT fashion store BNV to showcase designer Jack Irving as part of On|Off London Fashion week at the Grosvenor Ballroom London, creating huge press recognition with features in The Sunday Telegraph, Perfect Magazine, Showstudio and The Sun newspaper.
2022 Under my leadership, Ravensbourne University London was listed in Wikipedia under Digital Fashion as a World Leader in education, a real coup for the University. Securing Ravensbourne University as a world leader in Fashion Digital Education, launching the Fashion Digital BA (Hons) pathway, the same year we were also invited to showcase at London Fashion Week (being the only University to do so in September 2021) and featured on BBC News.
2020 After being accepted onto the official Berlin Fashion week schedule but unable to attend due to the start of the Covid pandemic, I conceived Rave Digital, a platform to showcase Ravensbourne Fashion and Gaming Students as a collaborative project, successfully launching on Twitch.TV (gaining 60K unique views in just 2 hours) and gaining international exposure in publications such as Forbes magazine, WWD, Love, Italian Vogue, reaching over 125 million readers.
2019 Continuing my passion for education, I was appointed as Programme Director of Fashion at Ravensbourne University London.
2019 With my passion for creating textiles, I was appointed Artist in Residence at The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and showcased textile installations at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage and Halls Croft. The work is now archived permanently in the Trust’s collections.
2017 I am awarded the title of Visiting Professor at BCU in recognition of my support for emerging talents in the fashion industry.
2017 On|Off becomes an official “On Schedule” London Fashion Week showcase, collaborating with the British Fashion Council.
2016 Birmingham City University awarded me with ‘Alumni of the Year’.
2016 I celebrate 15 years consulting for Cotton USA managing their designer sponsorship programme supporting designers such as Preen, Richard Nicoll, PPQ, Louise Grey, Palmer//Harding and Faustine Steinmetz.
2015 Having run my own successful company for over 12 years in a competitive industry, I successfully merge my company doll with Premier Comms, London, staying within the company as Creative Director.
2015 I am appointed Practitioner in Residence for the Media School at London College of Communications UAL.
2015 I am appointed as a judge and panelist for the International Fashion Showcase during London Fashion Week hosted by Sarah Mower for the British Fashion Council and British Council, advisor for Istanbul’s Incube Designer Programme.
2013 I art direct and launch the world’s largest shoe department store for the Chalhoub Group, named Level Shoe District (based in Dubai), commissioning Solange Knowles, Ashley Wallen, Cris Penfold and Harriet Jagger. Guests include Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared2, Italian Vogue’s Franco Sartori and Shilpa Shetty.
2012 I celebrate the career of Zandra Rhodes during Paris Fashion Week, with Zandra’s archive showcase as part of On|Off.
2012 Having directed the Clothes Show Live, I was approached by Land Rover to launch their new Evoque car across the UK. I created a 30 minute commercial showcase collaborating with famous choreographer Ashley Wallen (Kylie Minogue, The Greatest Showman). My show went on to win the Best Live Event at the Association of Event Organisers.
2010 My textile work continues to be a main focus and I launched my self-named fashion accessories range, exclusively launched with Harvey Nichols. The textiles became popular with celebrities such as Jessie J, Paloma Faith, Jo Whiley and Fearne Cotton. Having shown at Paris Fashion Week, my textiles were sold internationally including On Pedder Hong Kong and featured in their brochures alongside Givenchy and Jimmy Choo.
2010 Jessie J’s management company approached me to work with Jessie to help introduce her to the fashion industry. I featured Jessie at the ‘Westfields Greatest’ fashion showcase, introducing her to Pam Hogg; Jessie performed at Britain’s Next Top Model Live, On|Off London and Paris Fashion Week. The same year I worked with Darkus at Island Records with the Sugababes to create a ‘new’ look and style for the band, introducing the girls to key fashion industry figures to support a holistic change.
2009 I met and mentored Girls Aloud singer Nicola Roberts on the launch of her make-up range Dainty Doll, appearing on TV in The Passions of Girls Aloud.
2009 I was appointed external examiner at Central Saint Martins for BA Print, then UCA Epsom and the University of Salford, Manchester Fashion Course.
2009 I was approached by Haymarket director Gavin Brown to direct the Clothes Show Live Fashion Theatre as the Art Director. I went on to direct 5 shows for the Clothes Show Live event, for which I was awarded the Exhibition Feature Area of the Year by the AEO Awards (Association of Event Organisers).
2009 – 2013 Westfield appointed me as a fashion consultant to create a number of fashion showcases in-store. In this time I created several live catwalk showcases and films, commissioning photographer Rankin, model Jourdan Dunn and fashion designer Henry Holland. I directed Vogue Fashion’s Night Out (2012) working with Yasmin Le Bon, along with her daughter Amber Le Bon and Lizzie Jagger, who headlined a special catwalk show.
2007 I commissioned and arranged for RCA Japanese artist and photographer Izima Kaoru to photograph Erin O’Connor posing dead in Vivienne Westwood at Kew Gardens. This work was exhibited at The Royal Academy of Arts and featured in The Sunday Times Style Magazine.
2003 I became the MA Fashion and Textile coordinator at the University of Central England (now BCU) and gained official support from Alexander McQueen to endorse my new strategy, direction and philosophy for the course.
2002 I launched a pioneering company, On|Off, London Fashion Week, which was the first initiative to bridge the gap between on and off schedule designers. On|Off was also the first event of its kind to: take over the Royal Academy of Arts, be given Cool Brands status Award 2012/13, live stream catwalk shows, and host Gareth Pugh’s (2006) and Peter Pilotto’s first solo shows, and JW Anderson’s (2007) and Robert Wun’s first collections. On|Off also showcased the likes of Pam Hogg, Roksanda, Jasper Conran, Karen Walker, Louise Gray, Emma Cook and Duro Olowu, welcoming guests such as Isabella Blow, Anna Wintour, Lady GaGa, Suzy Menkes, Princess Michael of Kent, Beth Ditto and Pete Burns.

At the same time, I turned my freelance work into a company, going on to build the award-winning event production and creative agency, doll. The company specialised in innovative, multi-platform brand experiences before being acquired by the Premier PR Agency.
1999 – 2002 Upon graduating, I was quickly commissioned to create various large scale art textiles pieces including for St Giles Barbican, PACA (a pioneering, Birmingham-based non-profit organisation established in 1987), Gloucester Cathedral, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and Hammerson, the Bull Ring development.
1998 I completed my MASTER OF ARTS in Textiles and was awarded a distinction for my innovation. I was the first of my family to be awarded a degree and an MA.
1997 I met Zowie Broach of Boudicca / RCA whilst an MA student. Zowie, who directed the rock band Suede’s Filmstar video (Ilford, London, The Island), invited me to cast the fan club audience, who were prominently featured in the video.
My art school days (BTec, BA & MA) were spent with my then BF, who was a music promoter in Brum (Stone Roses, Ride, Primal Scream), working on the Rag Market on a vintage stand, dying my dreadlocks and clubbing (Patti Bell’s pussy club / working on the door at the House of God). My Grandma was an artist painter and my Mum a draftsman’s tracer whose work is archived in Central Library Birmingham. I designed my middle school emblem, as worn on all school uniforms, and won my village art competition to paint a picture of Princess Di and Charles’ wedding.