Fashion East marked its 25th anniversary this season with a show that felt far more intimate than in years past. Traditionally, the Fashion East show has taken place in a cavernous space in Brick Lane’s Truman Brewery, the vibe usually being more warehouse party than fashion show. But for its birthday season, East went West as the fashion pack arrived at the ICA on the Mall for a show that was distinctly more catwalk-focused. 

Coinciding with this year’s edition, an exhibition looking back over the first 25 years of Fashion East is taking place over the weekend, featuring images, flyers, designs and paraphernalia from some of the biggest names that the incubator produced over the years, such as Simone Rocha, Jonathan Anderson, Gareth Pugh, and Kim Jones. And as for the brands showing this season? With Fashion East’s backing, they just might be the next generation of industry heavyweights.

Mayhew

The first brand out of the gate this season was newcomer Mayhew. An eponymous label helmed by British designer Louis Mayhew – a graduate of London College of Fashion’s MA Womenswear course – the collection was titled Hard Graft and referred to the designer’s background as a painter and decorator. The show notes made reference to Mayhew’s “ever-growing object and material palette” and the designer’s penchant for mudlarking (the art of scouring riverbanks for lost treasures).

You could certainly see that passion for found materials throughout the collection – rubgy shirts were festooned with mudlarked objects, scrunched tops were constructed from building site plastic, and a pair of capri pants looked to have genuinely been made from white bin bags. Elsewhere, the references to painting and decorating were made clear as most of the clothes appeared on the runway filthy with dabs of paints, and there were trousers cinched with brown packing tape. It was an extremely strong debut for Mayhew, whose wholly unconventional materials and strong storytelling definitely make him one to watch in the coming seasons.

Nuba

Cameron Williams’ Nuba returned to Fashion East for a third season with a collection titled Solid. A total counterpoint to Mayhew’s designs just moments before, Nuba has always focused on clean silhouettes and pieces that display a masterfully playful sense of tailoring. For example, this season one of the recurring motifs was a flayed crotch panel, which proudly flung open to display a fully zipped-up layer beneath. This pair of trousers was paired well with a bulky cropped top that had a built-in space to rest your hands inside, like a muff. 

The show notes spoke of “questions around sacrifice, validation, compromise” and the notion that “adaptability and versatility are at the core of the clothes.” Nuba’s pieces were lightweight and worn in a totally unfussy way. Of all the designers presented at this edition, Nuba is the one from whom you could imagine buying a whole wardrobe. Williams isn’t fussed with making showstoppers, but when he does – such as his final look, an angelic jacket drowning in white organza – he makes pieces that really stick in the mind.

Jacek Gleba

The final collection this season came from another newcomer, Jacek Gleba. Prior to this catwalk, Gleba has already made a name for himself thanks to his “balletcore” aesthetic, which he displayed to excited whispers during his Central Saint Martins MA show. Born in Barcelona with Polish ancestry, Gleba’s referencing pulls from a myriad of sources that traverse Europe. His debut Fashion East collection, titled It’s true, built upon his MA collection and saw the designer return to a familiar font of inspiration: the legendary Russian ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Reflecting one of Nijinsky’s most famous roles in Afternoon of a Faun, his models had a mythical, almost ethereal, air to them. 

The clothing itself shifted between delicate and athletic: flowing chiffon layered with sturdy tracksuiting and flashes of athleisure, creating the impression of garments being hastily pulled on or dramatically peeled away. Gleba belongs to an exciting generation of new designers introducing overt sexiness to his menswear, usually through choice cuts in the fabric, revealing the skin below. It’s a winning formula. Much like Mayhew, this was a debut that signalled something truly exciting in London fashion. As anniversaries go, Fashion East couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate 25 years. This was one of its strongest seasons in recent memory.