Since the launch of Fashion East in 2000, Lulu Kennedy has shepherded an impressive who's who of British fashion talent – including J.W. Anderson, Jonathan Saunders and Meadham Kirchhoff – through her designers support scheme. For SS15, the Fashion East panel has selected newcomer Central Saint Martins graduate Ed Marler to join returning AW14 breakouts Helen Lawrence and Louise Alsop.
“Ed is great! I like his vision and how he puts things together so confidently," Kennedy says. "He's a very fun new addition to our brilliant girls Louise Alsop and Helen Lawrence who made strong debuts last season. I’m looking forward to September's show!”
Marler has assisted Louise Gray and produced one of the standout graduate collections, sending a parade of rags-to-riches queens in glossy pink satin, faux leopard fur and giant "MUM" doorknocker earrings down the runway. He isn't averse to walking down Kingsland Road in a Dior monkey fur, either.
"I just like the fact that the way you dress completely changes people’s opinion of you," he told Dazed in our January issue. "It can make you fit in or it can make you different from everyone else."
Along with Lawrence and Alsop, Marler will receive catwalk sponsorship, financial bursaries, Paris sales showroom support and ongoing business mentoring.
Watch Ed Marler go through his dreamily opulent wardrobe for Closet Case:
