Subculture in the Spotlight: Manchester's Inaugural Alternative Fashion Week

Pretty Disturbia's Leesa Bertram O'Neill turns six days of independent fashion into a citywide celebration

By: The Lace Ledger Staff

For the true-blue fashion girlies among us, there's an intangible magic to fashion week that no shopping experience can replicate. Even your favourite boutique offers only a glimpse of what a designer envisions; on the runway, an entire creative vision comes alive. Music sets the emotional tempo as makeup and styling reveal the collection's beating heart, while models stalk the runway with an intensity that brings each look to life.

And then there's the intimacy of it all. You're witnessing the birth of something that may have taken years to imagine and months to create, among the very first people to see that vision fully realized. It's an experience you never forget.

You can imagine our excitement, then, when Manchester announced its inaugural Alternative Fashion Week, that took place October 20–25, 2026. Behind the ambitious undertaking was Leesa Bertram O'Neill, a Manchester Metropolitan University fashion graduate and the founder of independent alternative fashion label Pretty Disturbia.