Fashion East – Port of Call for Emerging Designers

28 November 2019

What is Fashion East

Fashion East was founded in 2000 as a not for profit organization with a focus on discovering, supporting, and showcasing emerging UK fashion designers. Each year, founders Lulu Kennedy and the Old Truman Brewery in East London, offer three womenswear and three menswear designers several opportunities to grow and gain further experience in the world of luxury fashion.1

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What Designers Get

Opportunities offered by Fashion East include:

• a free, fully produced and project managed London Fashion Week catwalk show

• a bursary and other financial aid

• expert mentoring

• PR and marketing services from Director Lulu Kennedy

• wholesale strategy support

• Paris sales showroom opportunities to promote collections to potential international buyers

• brand partnership opportunities

Application Process

Womenswear and Menswear designers apply for support through an open application process. The Womenswear Selection Panel include industry representatives from Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue UK, US Vogue, the Financial Times, The Guardian, Selfridges, and the Fashion East Director. The Menswear Selection Panel is represented by individuals from Topman, Selfridges, GQ, Mr Porter, Business of Fashion, and others.

Fashion East Alumni

During its existence of close on two decades, Fashion East has discovered, supported and launched some of Britain’ s best designer talent. Household names such as JW Anderson, Roksanda and Jonathan Saunders are included in this list.

MAN

In September 2005, Fashion East, in collaboration with Topman, launched the MAN initiative. By September 2009, MAN began London’s first menswear day of shows and is now credited with the launch of London Collections Men in June 2012.2

In February 2009, Fashion East introduced the Fashion East Men’s Presentations, formerly called Menswear Installations, as a supporting act to the MAN show for London Fashion Week's first menswear showcase, the Autumn-Winter 2009 collection.

Charlie Porter, Men’s Fashion Critic at the Financial Times said:

"It can never be repeated enough: when Lulu Kennedy and Topman’s MAN initiative began in 2005, there was no such thing as London men’s shows. They started the ball rolling. Without them, London Collections: Men would not exist."3

On JW Anderson

Of Jonathan Anderson’s Oriental-inspired Autumn- Winter 2009 and Spring-Summer 2010 collections, Lulu Kennedy said:

“Jonathan’s debut caused a fairly big sensation - men in skirts - the confidence and quality of the collection, his steely determination and evident industry connections gave me no doubt he was someone who would go all the way.”

On Roksanda

Of Roksanda Ilincic’s Spring-Summer and Autumn-Winter 2003 collections, Lulu Kennedy praised the designer, saying:

“Roksanda was making quiet waves and gaining loyal fans and customers from the very outset. Her aesthetic was so chic and unlike anything else available at the time it really set her apart – these were beautiful clothes, luxury gowns to be cherished. Roksanda is her own best ambassador – surely one of the most stylish women in fashion.”

Funding

Currently, Fashion East is funded by the Old Truman Brewery, The Mayor of London and Topshop. With Philip Green’s empire on thin ice at the moment, it is difficult to predict how much longer the support from Topshop will remain.

How to Apply

Applications for the designer support programmes can be made at [email protected] and Fashion East can be contacted as follows:

Call: +44 (0) 207 770 6150

Write to: Fashion East MAN, The Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London E1 6QL

You can also contact Lulu Kennedy’s PA at [email protected]

References

1 Fashion East website – About: http://www.fashioneast.co.uk/about.asp

2 Wikipedia – Fashion East: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_East

3 Wikipedia – Fashion East: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_East