A Sai Ta and Supriya Lele have been added to the line-up for Fashion East’s London Fashion Week AW17 show.
The newcomers join Matty Bovan and Mini Wade, who are both once again taking part in the fashion talent incubator’s show, which takes place on Saturday 18 February at the Topshop Showspace.
Lulu Kennedy MBE, Director of Fashion East said: “For Fashion East to be showing in The Tanks at Tate Modern is epic, thrilling and a true privilege – testament to the fantastic support our project continues to receive from Topshop. Our lineup this season is super-diverse and brimming with ideas and passion, which now more than ever feels vital for us to champion in London.”
The four designers selected by Fashion East’s panel of editors, buyers and stylists, join the ranks of alumni including Roksanda Ilincic, Simone Rocha, Gareth Pugh, Jonathan Saunders and Marques’Almeida.
In addition to the London Fashion Week showcasing event, designers receive financial sponsorship, intensive one-to-one business mentoring, and inclusion in a leading Paris sales showroom.
For the thirteenth consecutive year, Fashion East has been supported by Topshop.
About the Designers
ASAI
Newcomer A Sai Ta is a British-Asian designer. In 2014, Ta’s intense but heartfelt overlocking embroidery BA collection at Central Saint Martins took second place in the L’Oreal Professionnel Talent Award. With a scholarship from Theory in hand, he entered the school’s renowned MA programme to continue exploring his aesthetic. He then left to accept a position at Kanye West’s Yeezy before returning to London to embark on his own label. Ta’s creative process draws on his search for authenticity and the creativity that comes anti-perfectionism, adaptability, and reaction. AW17 will be ASAI’s London Fashion Week debut with Fashion East.
Matty Bovan
York-born Matty Bovan launched his brand in 2016 after completing his MA at Central Saint Martins in 2015. Bovan’s Fashion East debut, looked to pagan folklore signs and symbols, which was met with great excitement. Styled by Katie Grand, the collection showcased his love of fabrics and colours rejected by conventional tastes. Vinyl, velour and diamanté in a rainbow of synthetic and saturated tones were knitted, shredded, crotched, woven and piled together with sculpted clay jewellery. Matty Bovan SS17 is available to buy from the Fashion East x Selfridges pop-up store (London) H Lorenzo (LA) and Boon (Korea ). AW17 will be Bovan’s second season with the support of Fashion East.
Mimi Wade
Mimi Wade is a young British-American designer and Central Saint Martins fashion print graduate. Wade made her second Fashion East appearance in September presenting a collection of lace edged dresses, skirts and t-shirts inspired by film noir and 1970’s Japanese Sci-Fi horror flicks, their female protagonists and her screen siren Granny Pammy’s eclectic LA home. Mimi Wade SS17 is stocked in Selfridges (London), Opening Ceremony (New York and LA), Isetan, The Four Eyed, K3 and Sarant (Japan). AW17 will be Wade’s third and final collection shown with Fashion East and her catwalk debut.
Supriya Lele
Newcomer Supriya Lele founded her eponymous brand after graduating in Fashion Womenswear MA from Royal College of Art in June 2016. Prior to this she completed her BA at Edinburgh College Art. Lele’s graduate collection explored the duality between her Indian and British cultural identity. Themes in her work focus around the female body and relationships, and the reworking of traditional Indian textile techniques and embellishment through a contemporary lens, concentrating on the interplay between high and low fabrications. AW17 presentation will be her first collection with Fashion East.
