The last day of London Fashion Week was entirely dedicated to giving a shoutout to the up and coming menswear talent of London. Guests at the MAN show only had to cross the road over to 5 Cromwell Place, the stunning Old Embassy Building to see Fashion East’s specially curated menswear installations. The featured designers; Katie Eary, Jaiden RVA James, Sibling and Martine Rose, were selected by the MAN panel and were given free rein to do as they wish with their room in the house. Dazed Digital was there to document this unique event.



Seeing a room of models dressed in embellished military garb, sitting around a dining table laden with cakes, only fully makes sense when you understand the story behind Katie Eary’s graduate collection at the RCA. Inspired by George Orwell’s Animal Farm, she delves into the ‘Politics of Pigs’ with her installation at 5 Cromwell Place.

So what's the story behind the installation?
The setting is supposed to be after the pigs have taken over the farmhouse (in Animal Farm) So it's quite macabre and worn down but also trying to keep it quite sophisticated. They want to have their cake and eat it. At the same time they are pigs living in their own shit so I tried to keep it vile as well.

They're like the most refined pigs in the world.
It's giving animals a free way to live like humans. They think they're above it. They become just like humans but more like Stalin or Hitler, the worse type of humans! It's like putting a silk hat on a pig. They're really grandiose and glamourous in the way they are dressed.

How have you reacted to your rise since your graduate collection?
I knew this is what I wanted to do and I've been thinking of doing a new collection since I graduated. Already I'm thinking of what I'll be doing next, you just can't help it. It's a natural thing! 

Will you be trying out for sponsorship from MAN?
Yes, that's my main aim. I'm not ready to change or dumb it down yet. I'm just scratching the surface of what I can do. (My pieces) are not something you usually see and that's what I love about it and I'm not going to commercialise it just yet. Right now, I'm really going for it because I have nothing to lose.

Do you think men are more restricted in what they wear?
That's because there's nothing available. I'm just pushing it. It's got to have some knock down effect eventually. If you think back to the 1600s', men were way more glamourous than women will ever be and so it's happened before, there's nothing stopping it from happening again - maybe not in my lifetime!

You need to have the Macromedia Flash plugin installed to be able to play this video.

Click on the next pages to discover the other designers in the house.