Words by Natasha Djanogly
London is flipping fashion on its head, and from AI glitches and human-sized ties to steal-proof clothing, it’s the city’s new talent turning up the heat.
Ground-breaking designers are flooding out of London’s big fashion schools like CSM and LCF, transforming the city into the epicentre of creative, dynamic, and inclusive design.
From fresh faces to those already catching attention, here are six unmissable new London designers leading the city to fashion glory.
Integrating their Jamaican heritage, non-binary identity, and inner-city London roots, Yodea’s work is a striking blend of tradition and innovation.
They burst onto the scene with their 2024 CSM BA collection Seven Sisters, a homage to community and resilience. Using sustainable practices like cotton jersey dyeing and a futuristic blend of lacing, eel parts, circuit board wires and found objects, Yodea moulded sculptural ensembles and arcing wing-like forms that sprouted from the models’ skin — evoking visceral and organic interconnection.
Already having won the attention of Margiela and Paolo Carzana, and becoming a Sarabande Scholar, Yodea is one of the few designers spotlighting underrepresented identities while achieving mainstream success. Yodea goes beyond breaking barriers — they’re carving out space for other aspiring, marginalised designers, pushing fashion forward.
This LCF MA Fashion Womenswear graduate fearlessly disrupts gender tropes with her theatrical, voluminous designs. Utilising her cross-cultural perspective (Korean and American), Min-Ji Kim’s designs empower the female body.
From vastly exaggerated proportions like the human-sized purple tie to “unflattering” neon striped patterns, her MA WW23 collection UnIVerSaLly DoMiNanT!!! was loud and structurally dominant, fully undermining the thinness and silence expected from women.
Since then, Min-Ji Kim has enjoyed mounting success. Not only has she released a sport-themed SS24 Capsule Collection and quirky FW25 collection Participation, featuring fabulous striped knickerbockers, but her unique designs have appeared in magazine editorials such as Flanelle and L’Officiel, and have been spotted at Fashion Week.
As society becomes more open-minded, Min-Ji Kim’s bold take on the weird and socially unconventional is one fashion must follow into the future.
Since studying Fashion Sportswear at LCF, Jake created wecanfly — an accessible, stylish design platform inspired by his twin sister Daisy, who has disabilities.
With inclusion at its core, wecanfly’s innovative pieces include turmeric-dyed technical hoodies with a back hole for ventilation; the Koshy Lyngs vintage-style Ocean 75 bespoke jacket, designed with a removable arm and stronger right side to adapt to athlete Koshy’s asymmetric body; and the military-style BlindAid Jacket.
Designed to be accessible to those with visual impairments, this magnetic, edgy jacket/trouser set includes dual fastenings, touch-based instructions, and a fabric-lined pocket that blocks card transactions.
Being one of only a few designers prioritising accessibility without compromising style, Jake’s role is crucial in empowering individuals and revolutionising fashion’s perception and treatment of disability. In an industry defined by exclusion — Jake finally demands style for all.
This London-based Swedish designer has been making waves in recent years thanks to her magnificent, subversive, and eco-conscious pieces.
Since studying at Parsons Paris, Petra has garnered widespread recognition — whether by winning the 2023 Mercedes-Benz Sustainability Prize with her white pleated showstopper made from automotive parts, taking home the 2025 Challenge the Fabric (CTF) Award with a dark militant look made with 10m of eco-friendly MMCF fibres, or working at Balenciaga and Acne Studios.
Now based in London and having set up her own label, Petra recently created a buzz with her 2025 CSM MA collection Recollection//404 — an exploration of the tradwife trend and AI.
Featuring her signature optical illusion vanishing lenticular pleats, tweed jackets, and a reinterpreted vanishing Dior Bar jacket — classic tradwife staples — the designer incorporated AI bugs into the shapes and textiles of the pieces, dismantling tradwife ideals.
Fashion is often downplayed as superficial and solely aesthetic, but Petra is revolutionising it from the inside out. She proposes new, sustainable, and socially impactful ways of making, wearing, and using fabrics — proving that fashion belongs to our future.
This CSM graduations nostalgic designs are rooted in her Bangladeshi British heritage. For her celebrated No Match of the Day BA collection, Tasnim was inspired by her sister’s experience as a British Bangladeshi girl playing football — and facing discrimination — in the early 2000s, as well as her family’s shift in dress after moving to Britain.
The youthful, gritty, and colourful collection merged typically Western structured coats, tailored silhouettes, and football kits with traditionally South Asian references like saris, lungi drapes, and Bengali Kantha hand stitching. Additionally, Tasnim’s practice maintained a quiet focus on sustainability — whether through red onion and avocado skin-dyed kneepad trousers, second-hand mesh jerseys, or recycled shirts.
Tasnim proposes a new way of dressing that subverts Eurocentric standards and the harmful ecological practices dominating the fashion industry. This drive towards non-tokenistic diversity, representation, and sustainability is something the fashion world — and the entire creative industry — cannot afford to wait on.
Blending his love for illustration and design, Connor dreams up imaginative, wearable art that’s fast making him one to watch.
After studying at Middlesex, Connor completed his MA at CSM, where he made a bang with his collection I Check In, I Check Out, designing minimalist, surreal accessory and backpack ensembles featuring real-sized pianos, violins, cellos, and cardboard boxes made of spectral semi-transparent welded steel and tulle.
Since then, Connor has shifted focus to accessories with his Feast for the Eyes capsule collection. Inspired by Jacques Tati’s Playtime escalator scene and featuring a gourmet menu, the kooky yet luxurious collection includes egg, grapevine, butterfly, and lavender branch embroidered headpieces.
In what is quickly becoming a stale, rigid, and repetitive industry, Connor’s imaginative, interdisciplinary approach expands fashion’s borders and inspires new designers to follow suit — a change that gives the industry a lifesaving breath of fresh air.
London might already be a fashion powerhouse, but as proved by these six fearless, cutting-edge designers, it is the city’s new generation that is carrying fashion into a better future.
These fresh new talents are going beyond just a surface-level transformation. They aspire, each in their unique way, to rewrite fashion’s rules, break down fashion’s borders and champion the boundless creativity, inclusion and social engagement that the future deserves.
