Lulu Kennedy, the founder of talent incubator Fashion East, has given many young fashion designers a home for their collections and ideas. Her roster has included Charlotte Knowles, Nensi Dojaka, Roksanda Ilincic and more — all designers who now show on the official London Fashion Week calendar.
So it comes as no surprise that the three new designers she’s representing this season — Standing Ground, Jawara Alleyne and Karoline Vitto — have all decided to focus on the idea of home away from home.
Michael Stewart, the man behind Standing Ground, stood his ground by presenting a standalone presentation before the shared runways, which has become a formula for Fashion East designers. His models stood like statuesque columns in the middle of an empty concrete room in draped gowns.
“I’m inspired by very ancient landscapes and artifacts, particularly from Ireland, where I’m from, they’re dotted through the landscape,” said Stewart.
Jamaican-born designer Alleyne wrote a story around his collection about a yacht crashing into a pirate ship to comment on the current crash of cultures happening.
“I feel like it’s just fitting for London and the state we’re in globally in the world right now, where everything is colliding, from Brexit, COVID to the queen dying,” the designer said backstage.
The light, airy chiffon garments he showed were an ode to the clothes that many people wear in his home country.
“The way that we wear clothes in the Caribbean is very easygoing and we have a lot of upcycling, repurposing and resourcefulness within just the way we live,” Alleyne said, adding that he’s been collecting fabric from friends, haberdasheries and vintage shops.
Brazilian designer Vitto made London her home when she moved over five years ago to study at Central Saint Martins. Her work has always been personal before it has been about profit. She founded her label in 2020 and has since pushed toward making more sensual clothes for plus-sized women.
“Brazilians are known for showing skin and thinking about beach bodies which was always an issue for me when I was growing up,” Vitto said candidly, sharing that she’s a size 14 or 16 since she gravitates between the two.
Her mission has been to understand how clothes felt on her body before she could offer it to her friends and family.
“It started from this wearability experience that turned into an image exercise,” she said.
Vitto primarily works with viscose and silk jersey for the purpose of movement — she wants her customers to move freely yet still embrace their body shape.
