…SAYS “I STUMBLE INTO FASHION ACCIDENTALLY”
By Okosun Dennis
The first Masterclass session in the ongoing GTCO Fashion Weekend was a huge revelation as the iconic Lulu Kennedy, the Founder and Director of Fashion East, a not-for-profit talent incubator, and a former Editor-at-Large for Love magazine, with her career spanning about 25 years in fashion business, revealed how she accidentally got into the profession.
With her impeccable acumen as a scouter of talents and grooming them to the limelight, she explained in the topic: “Incubating Talent: Supporting the Next Generation”, observed that she is “a talent scout, who likes staying in the background.
“I like to be in the background, pushing my designers to be the main character,” earning the funny “the fairy godmother,” adding that she can’t force those designers to do the work, to make the right decisions, but can only encourage them. “Pass on my knowledge and hope for the best and encourage them. I can’t make magic happen.”
Taking the audience through her rigorous journey to stardom, Lulu reflected on how she started even without the least desire to be a fashion person; started with music but stumbled into fashion accidentally.
“I didn’t have a fashion background, no training. I worked in music and life, and I’d always loved fashion, but never thought I could see myself being part of it, because for me, it was this very distant world of glamor, luxury, all the things that I couldn’t afford, and my background was putting on parties, and you know, I’m still, to this day, a very casual kind of girl.
She further stated that “Because I knew straight away, I didn’t want to be a designer. I’m not the talent. I’m the person behind the talent, and I like connecting people. I like to create a nice atmosphere, a collective feeling, where designers from lots of different backgrounds and different design aesthetics can come together and create a kind of forward-thinking force.
Lulu equally spoke on how she encourages young talents and oncoming designers, reiterating that giving bursaries and grants to trainees has immeasurably assisted in transforming them into a force to reckon with.
“We also give a bursary, a grant that designers can spend on their models, fabrics, seamstresses. We work with Nike, who is our commercial partner. But other than that, one sponsor, it’s pretty free. People can work in their way, at their own pace.”
While cautioning designers she expressed her worries over young designers. Lulu Kennedy in her calm manner displayed those qualities that stood her out as an enigma in the fashion-dominated modern world.
“I worry about our young designers, that we put them on the stage before they’re ready. So, we try to be very careful who we choose, when we choose to put them on the platform because it’s a lot of eyes.
“So sometimes we say to people, we love your work, but please go away and let’s help you put a team together and prepare for the season after not this season, you’re not ready, so we do a lot of that,” Lulu emphasized.
Explaining that this was her first time in Nigeria and privileged to be part of the 2024 GTCO Fashion Weekend, gave some inspiring tips to upcoming designers on how to create a legendary image for themselves and be spotted in the midst of competing worlds of fashion and glamour.
To them, according to Lulu Kennedy, they should “Create a social media and be creatively ingenious. Be persistent, if you have the talents and the drive, express it and make friends on the way. Treat people nicely and dominate your environment.”
Waxing prophetic and taking a lip into the future, the fashion icon with a Member British Empire (MBE) recognition added to her feathers, said making it great into the future, must come with “Newness, and adopt a better way of doing things” adding that what she looks forward to seeing in the fashion industry is robust “Grants, collaboration with investors” as a way to break the glass, creating a new horizon in the industry.
In her uncommon admonition, Lulu called on designers and fashionistas to wear what they are comfortable in and how they want to be perceived.
Lulu Kennedy, since founding Fashion East in 2000, is renowned for fostering next-generation creatives and building a community where young talent can thrive.
The industry looks to her to discover innovative new names and present their work at fashion week, retail, and stand-alone events. Fashion East also operates as a creative agency, collaborating on unique projects across fashion, culture, and art. “I’m nothing like Anna Wintour, and I’ve also been compared to Simon Cowell, because I think I am very honest and straight-talking. I don’t like those comparisons,” Lulu Kennedy stated during the masterclass conversation.
About The Author
