Lulu Kennedy Interview

“I have not got a clue what to wear yet,” said Lulu Kennedy about her date with the Queen to collect her MBE in March.

To mark her tenth year, Lulu launched Lulu & Co., a fashion brand that is every bit about Lulu as it is about British Fashion.

Dubbed the ‘fairy Godmother’ of British Fashion she has an address book including Jonathan Saunders and Henry Holland to name but a few and is responsible for nurturing the careers of some of the biggest names in British fashion: she’s surely on to a winner whatever she decides to wear?

“I hope to wear a dress, jacket, shoes, bag and accessories by as many of my friends as possible”, Lulu told me, “I’m going to look very colourful, I think.”

It might strike you as odd, perhaps a little boastful, to call a general collection of British design talent your ‘friends’ but when you’re Lulu Kennedy that’s just what they are.

Lulu Kennedy

Since launching Fashion East ten years ago, the platform has boosted the careers of every big name in London from Saunders and Holland to Holly Fulton and Richard Nicoll, Marios Schwab and Roksanda Ilincic and even James Long’s dabble in womenswear.

Kennedy’s tireless work for these designers saw them build a fashion collection, benefit from professional PR and look-book photography, gain Sales representation and, of course, exposure at the twice yearly multi-designer catwalk show at London Fashion Week.

To mark her tenth year, Lulu launched Lulu & Co., a fashion brand that is every bit about Lulu as it is about British Fashion. The line celebrates the history and future of the Fashion East initiative and features regurgitated pieces from the Fashion East archives as well as new collaborations.

Each piece is labeled as per its actual designer but all pieces form the Lulu & Co. collection. On her stepping into a whole new realm of fashion Lulu said: “I have no formal fashion or retail training, so it’s been a big learning curve for me, but all the more interesting for it. I love it.”

Lulu & Co.

Lulu’s CV may be quite impressive but the most intriguing thing about her is that she really does live up to her fairy Godmother nickname. When Fashion East has done its job and a designer, to quote Lulu, ‘flies the nest’, they never really leave at all.

“I stay in close touch with my designers,” said Lulu, “and am always on the end of the phone if they need anything.” Now that’s not something you hear of much in the cut-throat world of high fashion, is it?

As the anticipation mounts ahead of today’s Fashion East show I asked Lulu what we can expect from this season’s Fashion East pack: Marques' Almeida, Maarten van der Horst and James Long.

“Lots of directional exciting looks.Texture, colour, sharp androgynous tailoring, hand knits, and super fun party dresses.”

As well as her own Fashion East shows, preparing for the Lulu & Co. selling season in Paris and a cocktail party at No. 10, Lulu will also be seeing the A to Z of London Fashion Week’s show schedule. But before the lights go up at Somerset House today she will “have a quick final check that all the right people are seated and happy, then get my headset on, wish backstage good luck and say ‘OK let’s do this!”

Lulu & Co. is stocked at www.liberty.co.uk, www.blackwhitedenim.com and www.asos.com

Jordan McDowell runs Manchester fashion blog www.fashionrambler.com

You can follow Jordan on Twitter @jordanjmcdowell