Fashion five to watch out for

by Malgorzata Stankiewicz and Soha Abbas

Paris might have its pompous Haute Couture shows and Milan its enormous Prêt-à-Porter industry worth over €3.5 billion.

Yet, when it comes to launching and championing emerging sartorial visionaries, London continuously leads the fashion savvy pack.

Home to world-renowned fashion and art colleges including UAL’s Central Saint Martins and London College of Fashion, it comes as no surprise that buyers, journalists and headhunters alike turn to the British capital in search of fresh talent.

While many struggle to make a breakthrough, there some who find themselves in the limelight.

Here, we look at five up-and-coming London-trained designers who are all showing at London Fashion Week starting today, leading the new generation of young fashion creator

Gemma Slack Chelsea College of Art & Design and London College of Fashion graduate Gemma Slack started off as an artist and sculptor and has now added fashion design to her long list of talents. With only two collections, the young designer managed to turn heads of fashion insiders. Before launching her own fashion label in 2009, Slack completed a two-year-long apprenticeship with cutting-edge designer Gareth Pugh. Often taking her inspiration from history, her Autumn/Winter (A/W) 2009 collection referenced back to medieval times with armour-like studded jackets and leather dresses combined with pieces in a fabric which was printed to depict “digital smoke, reminiscent of burning church thuribles”.
Alexandra Groover Originally from California, Central Saint Martins graduate Alexandra Groover moved to London to pursue a fashion career. Sponsored by the prestigious Vauxhall Fashion Scout Award, she made her catwalk debut at London Fashion Week in February 2009. And a year after launching her own company, Groover’s A/W 2009 collection was featured online onVogue UK. She takes her inspiration from organic, marine-life shapes like shells or jellyfishes, plus fabrics like wool and silk, to create avant-garde, complex designs.
James Long Originally from Northampton and also 29, James Long is a London-based designer whose show-pieces from his graduate collection from the Royal College of Art have featured in i-D, AnOther Man, Numéro and Dazed & Confused magazines. Long has established himself as a knitwear virtuoso, combining his chunky knits with leather, suede and sheepskin. His Spring/Summer 2010 collection features gold and jade green lamé pieces, camouflage prints, distressed knits and leather biker jackets.
Katie Eary Katie Eary from the Royal College of Art is a London-based menswear designer who uses papier mâché and brass with wools, leathers, Swarovski crystals and furs. Her latest Spring/Summer 2010 collection depicts a 'sinister love story'. It's the relationship between a dealer and the abuser, and how one can't survive without the other”. In 2008 Kate Moss donned a number of Eary’s pieces for  a Testino shoot for Vogue UK.

Louise Goldin

At only 29, knitwear designer Louise Goldin has won two major prizes awarded by the fashion industry experts: the Swarovski award for Emerging Talent at the British Fashion Awards in 2008 and this year’s Fashion Forward prize.

Goldin’s feminine, body-hugging designs have been adorned by fashion-conscious celebrities like Alexa Chung, and her first fashion show, in 2005, caught the eye of Selfridges’ buyers who snapped up the entire collection.

Since then, Goldin has been praised for her complex, futuristic designs and her ability to fuse luxurious and man-made yarns by employing the most pioneering technologies.