For London Fashions Next Radicals, Look East
Review of Fashion East Spring 2026 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Creative freedom, Intentional DIY, Sensual Sports
It was 25 years ago in 2020, when Lulu Kennedy (later joined by Raphaelle Moore) birthed – what is widely respected as one of the industry’s most innovative fashion incubators – Fashion East. With a mission to platform deserving young creatives who had yet to prove their mettle to the industry, but still possessed a “fiercely DIY spirit”.
After more than two decades the necessity of such a platform cannot be underestimated. Especially not in a week when British Fashion Council CEO Laura Weir attended a a session in parliament to continue the ongoing fight to recognise the consistently undervalued British fashion industry and its more than £62 billion pound contribution to the economy, not to mention the thousands of jobs supported by the once so-called ‘Rag Trade’. From the credit crunch years through to the pandemic, and the faltering of the British high-street which saw the closure of fashion institution Topshop, Fashion East remained committed to supporting emerging talent and can boast about the fact that it produced a roster of alumni which includes the great and good of the fashion world from Jonathan Anderson and Kim Jones to Craig Green, Grace Wales Bonner, Martine Rose and Roksanda Ilincic.
Each year Fashion East has showcased collections which have afforded designers that rare gift of autonomy. With each new co-hort given permission to test out their ideas, experiment, deconstruct, but above all curate their collections meaningful. There are never any throw-away ideas on display here, even what may first appear as thrifted finds cobbled together, look closer and you may be surprised by the devil in the detail. Nuances which prove London has lost none of its talent for nurturing left-field thinkers, even on a shoe-string budget. But adversity is the mother of invention as they say, and during these times of political turmoil and disillusionment with the underlying promise of ‘luxury fashion’, this years designers proved the kids are going to be alright – even if wholesale partners and long-term funding are thin on the ground.
Offered three seasons to ‘prove’ as it were, and show on the official London fashion week calendar the talent hub never fails to draw a crowd, and this season was no exception. With one of the incubators most renowned success stories – Martine Rose – in attendance Nuba (designed by Cameron Williams), Jacek Gleba, and Mayhew (founded by Louis Mayhew) explored raw ideas around chance, sacrifice, and the ‘balletic body’.
Mayhew took a stab at what we might throw on in a dystopian future, referring to his ‘Hard Graft’ collection as one ‘made by chance on purpose’, and what on first look seemed random – a jersey sweatshirt drawn taut to the body via clips – was created with a sense on intentionality. Mayhews background in painting and decorating informed his merging of unconventional DIY, and ‘found and donated’ materials were worked into his designs, from paint-splattered joggers to a plastic bag panelled T-shirt. Nuba, in it’s second season, saw Williams grow in confidence with his creative output, focusing on adaptable designs which used cocoon-like draping techniques and layering to allow his collection to be reshaped by the wearer. Yet, it was newcomer Jacek Gleba who blew open the doors on traditional notions of what sportswear can or should present as. Using the body as his foundation to explore the firm and the fluid, a colour-blocked parade of chiffon anoraks with hook-and-eye inserts, draped leotards styled like jigsaw pieces and floral fringing peeking out from slide slits, this was hyper-experimental sportswear that pushed the envelope. And it will come as no surprise if Gleba is headhunted by an Alaïa or a Victoria Beckham to develop their next foray into the world of next-level athletic wear.
THE DIRECTION
THE WRAP UP
Having more than proved their ability to platform and nurture the next big thing in British design, Fashion East has lost none of its energy or creative prowess in over two decades of showing as part of the London scene. And marking this landmark moment with three equally exciting new voices, as well as a series of talks, screenings and an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Kennedy and Moore continue to define the future of British fashion, while giving emerging designers the space to freely test their ideas – in an industry that will sooner rather than later require conformity.
