How Lulu Kennedy Helped Put London on the Fashion Map - Wall Street Journal

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• NADYA MASIDLOVER

London

For young designers across the world, it helps to have a fairy godmother. New York's budding talent has Anna Wintour. London has Lulu Kennedy.

Ms. Kennedy, the 43-year-old editor-at-large of British fashion magazine LOVE, also runs Fashion East, a nonprofit venture that mentors young British designers, helping them do everything from put on a fashion show to find a balance between creativity and commercial success.

Some of Ms. Kennedy's former protégés were among the biggest draws of London Fashion Week, which wrapped up Tuesday, including Roksanda Ilincic, House of Holland, Simone Rocha, Richard Nicoll and Jonathan Saunders.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, wore the designer in 2012.

Ms. Kennedy is a big factor in the evolution of London Fashion Week from an optional interlude between the New York and Milan collections to a must-see event. International press and buyers from more than 50 countries were present this season, according to the British Fashion Council. According to data from forecasting company Oxford Economics, sales of U.K. designer clothing have been rising by an estimated 20% a year for the past decade and currently approach $4.6 billion.

Ms. Kennedy has helped shift London designers' image from wild and wacky to wearable. "The mentoring we do behind the scenes is a lot about trying to help them to find a way for their collections to be sellable," she says. Other players nurturing London's young design talent include the British Fashion Council and high-street chain Topshop, through projects such as NewGen.

Angela Ahrendts, chief executive of Burberry, who moved the fashion house's show to London from Milan a few years ago, says London's appeal owes a lot to its up-and-comers. "I think it's the consistency the country has had in incubating design talent," she said this week.

Britain's designers are gaining a bigger foothold in the global industry. Christopher Kane in January sold a majority stake to Gucci parent Kering SA, enabling the brand to open a flagship and soon launch an accessories line.

Michelle Obama wore Roksanda Ilincic on a 2011 visit to Britain with the President;

Ms. Kennedy has a particular knack for spotting "embryonic talent," according to Ben Matthews, a buyer for high-end online retailer Net-a-Porter. She has played matchmaker for retailers and fledgling designers, including Ms. Rocha, who showed with Fashion East in 2010 and is currently selling "super well" at Net-a-Porter, Mr. Matthews says.

Backstage before the Fashion East runway show on Tuesday, Ms. Kennedy smiled, joked and made the rounds of people she had brought in to help out at the shows, including Mark Hampton, a top hairstylist. Looking stylish yet natural in jeans and a wraparound knit top with minimal makeup and her long wavy hair worn loose, Ms. Kennedy laughed and mentioned she was getting over the flu. "Do I look ill? I'll have to go and see Make-up!" she said. Just before guests arrived, she slipped away to change into a loose-cut purple print dress by Marc Jacobs.

This season, Fashion East's current designers—Ryan Lo, Claire Barrow and Ashley Williams—showed an eclectic mix of styles. Mr. Lo dressed models in candy-pink knits and fluffy skirts with cat ears on their heads. Ms. Barrow's looks were brut and edgy in greys and blacks, while Ms. Williams's collection, including bright prints, beach wear and shark-form fluffy handbags, was a "tongue-in-cheek" play on "80s nautical living," according to notes from her show.

Many former Fashion East designers now show under their own labels. This season, Serbian-born Roksanda Ilincic, whose signature sleek dresses have been worn by Michelle Obama and the Duchess of Cambridge, showed them in bold colors and geometric lines.

Richard Nicoll, who has designed for Louis Vuitton and Cerruti, this week presented cleverly-worked layering, structured, masculine cuts and stripy knitwear in an essentially monochrome palette. Fashion East was "a great platform," he says, where he made youthful creative "mistakes." "I don't think I'd have started my own label if I hadn't done that first," he says.

Ms. Kennedy arrived in the fashion world 15 years ago as an outsider, working in an art gallery in London's East End. She met Ofer Zeloof, an investor in an 11-acre site on Brick Lane who offered her the chance to develop the old warehouses into a rental space for artists, musicians and fashion shows. From there, she worked with designers and, with Mr. Zeloof's support, went on to establish Fashion East. She launched her own line, Lulu & Co., in 2010.

Each season, Fashion East, sponsored by Topshop and London City, gives three womenswear and three menswear designers the chance to present a collection during London Fashion Week as well as in a showroom in Paris. Experts, including editors such as Sarah Mower of Vogue and style.com and industry professionals like Hugo Scott, head of Marc Jacobs' European operations, pick new designers for Fashion East to show for one or more seasons.

Write to Nadya Masidlover at nadya.masidlover@wsj.com

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