‘We have to take this moment’: Meet Fashion East’s new class of 2025

This season marks 25 years of Fashion East, the London talent incubator that helped launch the careers of fashion designers we all know and love. The programme has fostered a new generation of talents that continue to shape the fashion landscape: from cult favourites like Jawara Alleyne and Ashley Williams, to designers giving luxury a new aesthetic like Jonathan Anderson and Simone Rocha. Founded by Lulu Kennedy in 2000, it’s safe to say that the London fashion scene (and fashion at large) would look very different today if it wasn’t for her continued support.

Fast forward to the present day, and it’s Jacek Gleba, Louis Mayhew and Nuba’s Cameron Williams presenting their latest collections at London Fashion Week SS26, under the watchful eye of Kennedy and co. While Nuba is returning for a second season (designers can be supported for up to three seasons), Gleba and Mayhew are Fashion East’s freshest crop, making their debuts in menswear and womenswear respectively.

For its big two-five, the talent incubator swapped Brick Lane’s Old Truman Brewery for the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), the sun shining on an unusually warm late September day. Before the show, there was a buzz as people filmed content and caught up with colleagues – then it went dark. Mayhew was the first designer to show. His collection, Hard Graft, was “made by chance on purpose” from an assortment of found materials, gleaned from his work as a painter and decorator, or from mudlarking on the Thames. Wired headphones were fashioned into a necklace; a plastic bag was incorporated into a top; metal clips cinched the back of a sweater. Gleba’s collection, It’s True, was softer: think dance wear with the sensuality of lingerie. A bomber jacket was reimagined in a mint green chiffon, with hook-and-eye closures in place of a zip. Drapery flowed around the body while jersey clung to it, while diary pages attached to the back of certain garments added a touch of intimacy.

Just before the models hit the catwalk, we caught up with Gleba and Mayhew to discuss their new collections, the overreliance of youth in the industry, and the future of London Fashion Week.

Hi Louis and Jacek – can you tell me a bit about your backgrounds and how you got started in fashion?

Louis Mayhew: I started studying fashion when I was about 20, which is nearly ten years ago now. I was working on building sites and I was a bit sick of it, so I thought ‘let me try to do something else’. I made a portfolio and went to a college, then from there I did my bachelors and masters at London College of Fashion.

Alongside studying fashion I’ve been working in painting and decorating in construction as well, so I’ve been simultaneously studying and working and letting the two bleed into each other. I finished my masters about two or three years ago now. I applied for Fashion East quite a few times and then I finally got it this year. For the last decade it’s been a dream, so for it to actually happen is quite amazing and surreal.

Jacek Gleba: I’m from Barcelona and I’m half-Polish, half-Spanish. I originally did my bachelors in Communications, but I did my masters degree in Fashion. I came to Central Saint Martins here in London, I did my MA show in February, and now we’re here in Fashion East! I’ve always wanted to do fashion since I was a child, but I think I was a little afraid of it. That’s why I didn’t study fashion in the beginning, I didn’t think I was good enough.

I started styling, but then I realised I wanted to do more. I joined this sewing school with a bunch of mums in my hometown – it was lovely – then went on to study design. I’m actually really glad I didn’t do design from the beginning, because what I would have made at uni at 18 would have been so bad [laughs]. So I think I’m glad that I came to it later, so I had time to grow up a bit and make things that are a bit more mature.

I feel more ready than I’ve ever been before

What do you think about that, Louis? You said you’d been applying for Fashion East for a while – do you think having that time to develop has been beneficial to you?

Louis Mayhew: Oh yeah, 100 per cent. You can want something but not quite be ready for it. And I think that right now I feel more ready than I’ve ever been before. I’m glad, in this moment, that I didn’t get it previously, because what I’m making now is a lot better than in the past. It’s forever a journey. As Jacek said, I’m glad I came to fashion when I was a bit older. You have to take your journey for what it is.

I’m really glad you guys brought up that point, because fashion and creative industries in general tend to really value youth, and we sort of forget that skill actually comes with time and experience.

Louis Mayhew: I think living your life helps you develop as a designer as well. These life experiences, without them, we wouldn’t be able to make what we make today. 

Could you both tell me a bit about your design practice and your approach to fashion? What’s inspired your upcoming collections?

Jacek Gleba: Because I literally just graduated, I’m sort of continuing with the research from my final collection, which was called Diary and inspired by Vaslav Nijinsky, who was a dancer in the Ballet Russes in the 1910s in Paris. That was the starting point, and the research branched into dance wear and gesture.

I always use three words to describe my work. ‘Light’, so physically using light fabrics, but also because I want the person wearing my clothes to feel a lightness. ‘Gesture’ is important too, how the person walks, how they move, how clothes make you behave in a different way. I specifically looked a lot into queer gesture. Looking queer a lot of the time is more about how you move than how you dress. You could be dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, but you have this tiny, slight move of the hip when you walk. And I want fashion to be a physical embodiment of that. And the last word is ‘intimacy’. For my final MA collection, I kept a diary and inside the garments there are pages from the journal, so you can see little snippets of my personal life.

Louis Mayhew: For me, my design practice is very research-based. Working on a construction site, I have thousands and thousands of images of unique material compositions and I like to play around with that to create something stylish. There’s not really a running theme, it’s more what grabs my eye and then trying to put all this research together into a coherent collection, which is where your team comes into play – I’m working with a great stylist called Lara – and it all starts coming together. 

Talk me through the materials you’re using in the collections.

Louis Mayhew: My practice is deeply rooted in found and unorthodox objects. Materials from building sites, or stuff I’ve found mudlarking on the Thames. I try to find treasure and fossils. I also work with a recycling plant in Watford called Watford Recycling Arts Project. You pay a minimal yearly membership and you can take as much fabric as you want. I have to work on a bit of a shoestring budget, but I think that’s where the wonder comes from – trying to create high fashion, chic garments for a very minimal price.

Jacek Gleba: I totally agree. I think figuring out how to work with what you have can sometimes bring the best ideas. I incorporate some found materials, but I mostly use natural materials like bamboo jersey, wool and silk. When I need to use something that is plastic, I try to upcycle it. There are some printed leggings in my collection, but I didn’t want to buy new polyester fabric to print on, so I got skirts from a charity shop.

Louis Mayhew: I think if we can make these collections work on a small budget, brands can look at that and think, ‘imagine what they could do on a big budget.’ 

On a final note, I don’t know if you’ve seen all the headlines about LFW and how designers are moving to Milan and Paris. But recently there’s been new measures from the British Fashion Council to try and remedy this. In light of that, how does it feel to be a young designer in London today?

Louis Mayhew: I mean, all you have to do is look at Fashion East’s 25-year roster. To be a part of that is absolutely beautiful. That’s how it feels for me, it’s exciting. We’re here now, so we have to take this moment for what it is and run with it.

Jacek Gleba: I agree. London has always been about the independent designers, the small, emerging designers. The brands here still have that attitude, whereas Paris and Milan are more corporate. I think that’s what has made London so interesting, since the 80s with Leigh Bowery. There’s a great sense of collaboration. I don’t know, I have a good feeling about London Fashion Week getting better. I’m excited for this season: not just for our show, but in general.

London has always been about the independent designers, the small, emerging designers

I think there’s a mood of optimism. There are more designers showing this season than there were last time. We’ve always had creativity, as you guys said.

Louis Mayhew: Definitely, we’ve always had the talent, it’s just the boring stuff that holds us up sometimes.

Jacek Gleba: I also think, with social media, it’s a snowball effect. One person says ‘London Fashion Week is over’ and it becomes a thing. It’s the discourse around it, like a self-fulfilling prophecy – but the clothes are not affected by it.

Scroll through the gallery at the top of the page for Fashion East’s entire SS26 collections.