Fashion East Announces AW18 Line-Up For LFW

Lulu Kennedy’s Fashion East initiative is one of the greatest incubators around for young talent, responsible for kickstarting the careers of London-based luminaries from Jonathan Anderson to Roksanda Ilincic and Meadham Kirchhoff. Each season, under Topshop’s sponsorship, Kennedy and her team help emerging designers find their way onto the runways of London Fashion Week, as well as supporting them on everything from sales to understanding the bizarre nuances of the fashion system.

“In basic terms Fashion East gives them a leg up, amplifies and enhances their talent,” explains Kennedy. “We take care of organising the show and get a strong audience along, so they can focus more on their actual work. We then take them to a Paris showroom to sell to buyers and provide one-to-one business mentoring with experts to ensure they stand the best chance out there.” Right now, that assistance is more necessary than ever before – after all, she continues, “Coming out of university with crippling debt means that deciding to set up your own label is a very brave thing to do - so if they’re talented they deserve all the support the industry can give.”

Today, Fashion East is announcing the next spate of designers to come under their wing: Asai, Supriya Lele and Charlotte Knowles. Together, they paint a gloriously diverse picture of what this city’s next generation has to offer: Asai, who takes his Woolwich upbringing as the starting point for his urban luxe-inflected designs; Supriya Lele, who blends her personal heritage with a thoroughly contemporary vision of femininity; Charlotte Knowles, who plays with the fetishistic tropes of female sensuality. Then, Symonds Pearmain – whose experimental, theatrical performances are frankly phenomenal – will be taking to the stage as a guest appearance. Here, Kennedy explains what she sees in each of them, and why she has chosen them for autumn/winter 2018.

Asai

“Asai fascinates me. There’s a lot going on in his head, he’s big hearted, sassy, funny - and it all comes through in his clothes. He’s a great gauge of what’s now, and he’s just getting stronger and stronger. Hot girls wear his stuff, and there’s a lot of buzz around him.”

Supriya Lele

“Supriya Lele is considered and pared back but still hits all the sweet spots: feminine, sexy, modern. I love the cultural remix of her work – things like sari knotting in jersey with bonded PVC – and how she makes it look effortless and chic.”

Charlotte Knowles

“We discussed extensively with Charlotte about moving her from a presentation to the runway, and we all agreed she was ready! I loved her Central Saint Martins MA work as soon as I saw it: it’s so fresh and challenging, questioning the male gaze and female codes of dressing. It’s very well put together.”

Symonds Pearmain

“Sometimes at Fashion East we like to shake up our usual formula and do something new – like the time we hosted Martine Rose at our menswear presentation. This time, we’re hosting Symonds Pearmain on our runway and they’re such a number – the real deal. When we heard that they didn’t have a slot on the official schedule, I thought, 'this is madness, I’m going to ask them if we might host them as very special guests!' I love their refusal and humour and art background. From their conceptual starting point, to the actual patterns and garments, language and context, everything has layers of meaning. Also, once I tried on their clothes I only ever wanted to wear Symonds Pearmain again.”