Lulu Kennedy

Kennedy at in 2017

Lulu Kennedy MBE is the Founder and Director of Fashion East & MAN and the Lulu & Co clothing line. She is also Editor-at-large of Condé Nast's biannual LOVE magazine as well as working as a consultant for brands.

Early life[]

Born in 1969, Lulu grew up on the hippy trail between Ibiza, Devon and Sicily,^[1] spending the early 1990s working on raves in Naples, Italy,^[2] a decade she was heavily influenced by. On returning to the UK in 1995, she got a job in a vintage shop at Kensington Market during its heyday and found herself drawn into fashion.

Career[]

Fashion East[]

In 1996 Lulu started working for the owners of the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane in East London. Together in 2000 they launched a pioneering non-profit initiative Fashion East, dedicated to scouting and nurturing young designers enabling them to show at London Fashion Week.^[3]

Following Fashion East's success, she set up MAN in 2005 in partnership with Topman – an identical support scheme for emerging menswear designers.

Lulu has fast earned a reputation for discovering and championing exciting new design talent. She launched many of London's leading fashion names including: Jonathan Saunders, House of Holland, Roksanda Ilincic, Gareth Pugh, Richard Nicoll, Louise Gray, Meadham Kirchhoff, James Long, J.W. Anderson, Christopher Shannon, Ashley Williams, Charles Jeffrey, and Craig Green.^[4]

Lulu & Co.[]

Lulu launched her own clothing brand Lulu & Co in 2010 to mark Fashion East's 10th anniversary. Initially created as a limited edition capsule collection of ten archive dresses by ten Fashion East designers,^[1] Lulu went on to develop the line in house, often collaborating with friends such as artists Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Barry Reigate, Bella Freud & Susie Bick, art director Boyo Studio, and photographer Mary McCartney. It is carried internationally at stockists including Liberty and Net-a-Porter.^[5]

Press[]

Regularly described as the "fairy godmother of British fashion" by top international press,^[6] Lulu was awarded an MBE title in March 2012 for her services to the fashion industry.

‘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 is a big factor in the evolution of London Fashion Week.’ Nadya Masidlover, reporter at The Wall Street Journal.^[6]

‘Ms. Kennedy has helped so many that she actually put a city back on the fashion map.’ Eric Wilson & Cathy Horyn, Fashion Critics at The New York Times stated in their list of ‘Fashion’s New Order’ describing the power players of today.^[7]

‘The queen of East London’s fiercely competitive fashion scene’ Luke Leitch, Deputy Fashion Editor, Telegraph.^[5]

‘A spark can’t be rationalised, it just is. And that is strangely comforting. Kennedy and co’s non-profit initiative has played a significant part in reconfiguring the landscape of British fashion – on nothing more than passion and gut instinct.’ Dean Mayo Davies, writer-at-large, Dazed.^[8]

Lulu has also been acknowledged in a number of other key industry lists including; the Telegraph's ‘25 Most important People in Fashion', The London Evening Standard’s ‘The Power 1000 – London’s most influential people 2013’ and Business of Fashion’s ‘BoF500’.^[9]

Personal life[]

Lulu was married to artist and photographer Mat Collishaw from 2007-2008

Lulu's daughter Rainbow Kennedy was born in March 2014. They live in East London.

References[]