British designer John Galliano appears on the catwalk after presenting his mens spring/summer 2005 fashion collection in Paris,

July 2, 2004. He works for the French fashion house Dior.

PHOTO - REUTERS

LONDON - Britain produces some of the world's top fashion designers -- Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen among them -- but many of the best fly off for Paris, New York or Milan as soon as their star has risen. Fearing London may lose its place among the world's fashion capitals if its home-grown stars continue to nourish their talents and display their collections elsewhere, one fashion writer decided to take action.

"Fashion Fringe", the brainchild of writer Colin McDowell, is a talent contest loosely based on the "Pop Idol" format that aims to find Britain's next fashion star -- and keep the winner at home with 100,000 pounds ($179,300) to help build a viable business. The contest's American cousin, a reality TV competition to be hosted by legendary designer Tommy Hilfiger and tentatively titled "The Cut", will force contestants to live together, then dump one from the group each week. But Fashion Fringe -- which won't be televised -- is forgoing the attendant reality TV razzmatazz to address more serious issues. "For some time now I've been unhappy with the state of British fashion: it's been losing its impetus and one of the reasons is that so many big names have simply moved away," McDowell told Reuters. "London's role has been to produce exciting young talent but a lot of that excitement has gone over to Europe or New York ... I feel this contest will give encouragement to young designers and may even help kickstart the British industry," he added.

Many big British names skip London Fashion Week and others have threatened to quit the twice-yearly event because of a lack of funding and buyers. While welcoming the boost Fashion Fringe might give to its winner, Vogue UK editor Alexandra Shulman -- one of the contest's judges -- waves aside the idea London's fashion scene is mired in a serious slump. "It's true that the difficulty in British fashion is that

there isn't a lot of money around to build up a business, unlike Italy where there is a big manufacturing industry," she said. "But I don't think there is any crisis in London. I would love all the big British designers to show in London -- there's always a pendulum swing about where's fashionable and you can't always be the hot place," she added. After screening entrants from across the country and scrutinising their designs, Fashion Fringe has trimmed the hopefuls down to four finalists. A winner will be picked at London Fashion Week on September 22. Many in the industry have welcomed Fashion Fringe but it does have its vocal -- and creative -- critics: "Some young designers have produced a T-shirt that says 'Fuck Colin

McDowell' but I love that. It's the sort of spirit we want," McDowell said. Reuters