David Pemsel named chair of British Fashion Council
The former Guardian chief executive David Pemsel has been named as the chair of the British Fashion Council (BFC).
The BFC oversees London fashion week, which runs twice a year, and a range of funds and prizes intended to support homegrown design talent and help promote their work around the world. It also helps forge links between the industry and fashion students and represents the sector’s interests with government.
The new chair will work alongside the chief executive, Caroline Rush.
Pemsel, who left the Guardian in 2019 after four years in the job, is the head of the PR and marketing agency ScienceMagic.
At the BFC he succeeds Stephanie Phair, the former Net-a-Porter executive who now works for its current parent group Farfetch. Phair took on the role from the Net-a-Porter founder Dame Natalie Massenet in 2018. Other former incumbents include the chair of Asda, Stuart Rose, who has previously led Marks & Spencer and Ocado, and the former Condé Nast managing director Nicholas Coleridge.
Pemsel, who will hold the BFC role for three years, had been set to become head of the Premier League in 2020, but resigned two months before he was due to take up the role after allegations about his private life appeared in the Sun.
He said: “It is a privilege to take on the role of chair of the British Fashion Council and to champion the British fashion industry – arguably our country’s most creative sector – at a time of significant change.”
