London Fashion Week autumn/winter 2021 closed its doors this week with a show put on by Fashion East that featured the work of five exciting young designers.
Fashion East founder Lulu Kennedy took five designers under her wing for the new season instead of the usual three, as due to the pandemic and everything shifting online it was in fact possible to support more talent than usual. For the extra two designers, this was their first Fashion East show.
Fashion East is a non-profit organisation based in Hackney which ever since 2000 has led the way by providing emerging British fashion designers with the means they need to launch their careers.
Their alumni include Kim Jones, artistic director of Dior Men’s; Simone Rocha, Harper’s Bazaar Young Designer of the Year 2014 and British Fashion Awards Womenswear Designer of the Year 2016; Ashley Williams, winner of the British Fashion Council’s Newgen award; and JW Anderson, designer with his own eponymous brand, and creative director of Loewe.
- Hannah Hopkins of HRH
Hannah of HRH is one of the two new additions to Fashion East. She is an accessory designer who has a background in gymnastics and costume designing. The HRH signature is a playful and extremely large nylon scrunchy headpiece with a contrast stitch; whilst the new collection features tiny colourful bags that are suitable for carrying anything – as long as it is smaller than the size of your palm that is!
- Jawara Alleyne
Jawara, a recent Central Saint Martins graduate, is the second talent to join the group for the first time this season. The Jamaican-Caymanian designer draws inspiration from his years growing up in the Caribbean for his first collection. Titled “Self Made Man”, the collection borrows from Caribbean mysticism to tell, “a story of a more thoughtful and sensual man”.
- Maximilian Davis of Maximilian
Following the success of his first collection in 2020, Trinidadian-British designer Maximillian returned for his second season with Fashion East. His new collection includes a maximal piece of headwear with ostrich feathers that has already been donned by Naomi Campbell on the cover of i-D magazine, and Rihanna for Essence magazine.
- Groom Heo of GOOMHEO
Goom Heo, another Central Saint Martins graduate, is a South Korean designer who was also returning for a second show with Fashion East. Her new collection is named “Horror” and features a lot of interesting drapery.
- Nensi Dojaka
The Albanian designer – also from Central Saint Martins – returned with another signature collection that features delicate designs inspired – as with her previous work – by the 90s. Her work is not new to the fashion world as last year it had its debut on the red carpet when supermodel Bella Hadid wore a full Nensi Dojaka outfit to attend the VMAs.
These five Fashion East designers have been featured by multiple publications such as WWD, i-D and Nylon, and are constantly on the radar of Vogue, which has praised the group as “the next fashion superstars”. This accolade acknowledges both the abilities of these young bloods, and the amazing record of Fashion East as one of the industry’s top talent incubators.