Fashion East.

What are they?

 

Fashion East is a non-profit initiative established by the Old Truman Brewery in 2000 to nurture emerging young designers through the early stages of their career. The organisation receives sponsorship funding from Topshop, TOPMAN and The London Development Agency.

 

At what stage do they help you?

Within 3 years of starting your own business.

 

 Key figures…

Brix Smith-Start 
Owner of Start Boutique, London

Charlie Harrington
Fashion Director Stella / Sunday Telegraph

Charlie Porter 
Freelance Journalist

Francesca Burns 
Fashion Editor, Vogue UK

Harriet Quick 
Fashion features Director, Vogue UK

Kay Barron 
Fashion Features Editor, Harper’s Bazaar

Lauren Cochrane 
Freelance Fashion Writer

Richard Sloan 
Creative Consultant / Stylist

Sarah Mower 
Contributing Editor, Vogue USA and Style.com

Hugo Scott 
Head of European Operations, Marc Jacobs

Lulu Kennedy is the director of Fashion East and editor-at-large at Love magazine. She has been awarded an MBE for fashion services and is known as the Fashion Fairy Godmother.

Kennedy launched an eponymous clothing label Lulu & Co, which brings together some of the enterprise's alumni and creates their designs in a more accessible, affordable way. Not quite as mass market as a high-street collaboration, Lulu & Co provides a middle ground of commercialisation that appears to benefit all parties.

What do they give you?

The organisation provides the opportunity to present a catwalk collection to the international press and buyers attending London Fashion Week. Designers receive a bursary, free venue and complete catwalk show production, professional catwalk photographs and video. Designers are also given mentoring, guidance and in-house PR throughout the season from Lulu Kennedy and her team.

They also take designers to a sales show room in Paris each season, giving them the opportunity to showcase their collections to top international buyers.

 

Who they helped?

Previous Fashion East designers include, Richard Nicoll, Holly Fulton, Jonathan Saunders, House of Holland, Gareth Pugh, Marios Schwab, Louise Goldin, Roksanda Ilincic and Meadham Kirchhoff.

The designers for this season are, Ashley Williams, University of Westminster graduate who had Pixie Geldof and Alice Dellal walk in her graduate show, Claire Barrow and Ryan Lo.