Each season, an irrefutable highlight of the London Fashion Week calendar is Fashion East, the talent incubator founded by Lulu Kennedy more than two decades ago, and a crucible for some of the city’s most emblematic designers. SS24 was no exception, with the ubiquitously adored group show taking residency in a former military gymnasium near King’s Cross, seeing the return of Johanna Parv and Standing Ground – their second and third collections on the Fashion East roster respectively – as well as the debut of Olly Shinder and the return of incubator alumnus ASAI. From stoic glamour to sensually subverted masculinity, practical elegance to brazen eccentricity, it was a show with something of every flavour, with the full low down ready for you to dig into below.
Olly Shinder
Opening affair this season was newcomer Olly Shinder, a designer who, since graduating from Central Saint Martins just over a year ago, has swiftly earned a reputation as one of London’s most exciting menswear names. Presenting a collection that contemplated notions of connection – particularly the notion of being plugged into the times we occupy, and the potential pitfalls associated with that – the body of work that filed along the runway in about a dozen looks served as a treatise on the power of looking beyond common references, and drawing strength and inspiration from intrinsic desires, and from the close communities that Olly’s a key part of.
That latter feature made itself most prominently felt through the show’s casting, which featured a coterie of some of London’s most culturally astute, queer creatives, including artists Gray Wielebinski – soon to open a solo show at the ICA – and Michael Ho, regular i-D contributor Joe Bobowicz and BUTT Magazine editor Andrew Pasquier. The clothes they wore, marched out to a soundtrack mixed by Wolfgang Tillmans, represented Olly’s most distilled and conceptually effective collection to date, with staid hypermasculine archetypes subtly, sensually subverted through considered fabric choices and cuts. Styled by multidisciplinary artist Novacaine, hearty gingham shirts were spliced with Cordura nylon panels, and paired with press-studded shorts in the same rugged fabric, imbuing them with an almost fetishistic timbre. Mesh polo shirts came with zips down the flanks, opening up to reveal brazen peeks of the body beneath, while low-scooping vests and plaid harnesses served as architectural cladding for shoulders and chests. All around, an incredibly accomplished debut.
Standing Ground
Before Michael Stewart presented his third collection for fashion, Salma Hayek Pinault stepped out onto the red carpet for a dinner thrown by the conglomerate her husband owns in a resplendent white gown, designed by the Irish designer’s label, Standing Ground. A power move, to say the least, it cemented the designer’s burgeoning reputation as a go-to name for some of the most exquisite eveningwear currently going, with the collection he went on to present yesterday proving how he’s done it in just two seasons.
Named after the prehistoric Tethys Ocean, there was, as ever, a stoic permanence to the designer’s offering, which saw a triumphant return to his hallmark jersey gowns in muted hues of white and black and mossy greens, with occasional punctuations of cobalt and cerulean blues. The purity of the palette gave necessary carte blanche for Michael to exhibit his well-whetted skills as an expert draper, with the designer’s signature padded jerse vein details subtly tracing the lines of the wearer’s body beneath. In development on this basically proprietary technique, a similar effect was achieved through meticulous beadwork, outlining collarbones, gather and Delphic pleats, while perhaps the most significant step technique taken by Michael this season was the embrace of an outright sexiness, with bandeau and mermaid skirt combos in sumptuous sea green velvet bringing a welcome measure of skin into the mix.
Johanna Parv
Continuing her exploration of the intersection between feminine power dressing and practically-minded sportswear, Johanna Parv sought to explore what she described as “powerful tranquility” in her shownotes, drawing inspiration from 50s and 60s dressmaking techniques and the urban women she’s sees around her in London on the daily — from lycra-clad cycling nuts zipping by on bikes to backpack-toting bankers on the tube.
In a predominantly sober palette of blacks, blues and deep purples, Johanna’s wardrobe for her dynamic girl on the go comprised shirting with slashed shoulders, offering a sensuous take on an office staple, a timbre that carried over into asymmetric backpack-strap crop-tops and diaphanous recycled nylon vests. Gossamer gowns in white and teal swept the floor with effortless grace, but where constructed in a manner that accommodated handbags through discreet gaps in the fabric, resulting in graphically distinct drapes when worn on the shoulder. All in all, the perfect wardrobe for the glamour girl on the go.
Asai
One of the moments London’s fashion community was happiest to see last season was the runway return of Asai, the brand that — for a few years in the run up to the pandemic — was one of the city’s brightest design stars. After a triumphant comeback, this season saw the designer return to where it all started, the Fashion East runway, where he first got his big break.
This season saw a return of the designer’s iconic tie-died mesh, albeit not as the emblematic Hot Wok tops he first won us all over for. Rather, fronds of the rainbow nylon were knitting in netted gowns, cardigans and stoles that puffed and jangled with each step. The offering’s skimpy sensibilities were compounded by tie-around bikinis and spliced and deconstructed draped tops, bringing a slightly frenzied, though creatively exuberant, spirit to the fore.
Credits
Images courtesy of Spotlight