October 20, 2025 |
A trip to Fantastic Toiles can feel like you’re shopping while on acid. In one corner, you have Yorkshire-born Freyja Newsome selling her dishevelled Mvudslyde togs that look like they’ve been dug up from a time capsule dating back to 400BC.
Across the way, there’s Ed Curtis, whose hand-painted tees and swirly hoodies make up a vivid wardrobe of pieces he likes to call “the ultimate fashion art attack”. There’s crusty rave wear (Jonty K. Mellmann), mutant baby head merch (4FSB), sissy-boy frocks and snouts sewn onto T-shirts (Pig Ignorant), and the sort of extra large, furry top hats, courtesy of Benny Andallo, that would have Jamiroquai’s Jay Kay shaking with envy.
The nomadic, motley crew of makers, artists and designers assemble every few months, transforming venues tucked away in London’s hidden corners into bustling marketplaces that are always met with queues that snake down the street. They each pay a fee to help with the hiring of the space and the cost of setting up shop. They make what they like, sell as much or as little as they want and take home the entirety of the profits. No hidden commission fees, no chasing wholesale invoices. Make, sell, take home what’s yours.
Orchestrating it all is Nasir Mazhar, the 42-year-old East London-born menswear maven and headwear wizard who started the market (brilliantly nicknamed “fanny twirls” by the crew involved) in 2019.
He’d already built a shop inside his old Forest Gate studio the year before to sell his wares after growing tired of the wholesale system. He’d also been showing at London Fashion Week throughout the 2010s, garnering a cult following for his tracksuits, club-inspired twinsets and Bully caps (hunt one of these down today on eBay and you’ll be met with a hefty asking price). “Even though we had, at one point, 36 stockists, it still wasn’t enough to be selling all this stuff because you’ve got to sell [to shops] for so little, unless you’re mass producing,” says Mazhar, who began to question why there wasn’t a space that caters for the designers who don’t fit into the business model of wholesale.
“It’s not healthy for everyone. There’s got to be something else. How can I exist as a designer, as an artist, when I don’t want to follow that model? What else is there for me to do? Does it mean that I’ll just be forgotten about even though I know I’ve still got loads to give. I don’t wanna do catwalks and mass-production collections like that, so where do I fit in? Where do I go?”
The Fantastic Toiles troupe, as Mazhar puts it, all make “weird, fucking great stuff”, but didn’t have a platform to show what they could do. Most use found objects, deadstock garments and leftover fabrics to concoct their pieces, like Fashion East alum Jawara Alleyne, who deftly chops up old tees to make fierce dresses that are safety-pinned together and elegantly draped on the body. Or Saskia Lenaerts, the Central Saint Martins grad deconstructing surplus militarywear to decode such garments of their meanings.
Most don’t have the resources to widely produce enough units for their togs to be able to grace shop floors. They’re a sustainably-minded bunch, so mass production also goes against everything Fantastic Toiles stands for: the name originated from a label Mazhar had started to sell reworked collection scraps or studio ideas he couldn’t put into production. “What it opens up creatively is completely different from what you’re creating for a wholesale collection.”
When we chat, Mazhar’s home in Doncaster, South Yorkshire – he relocated up north in 2021 – putting together the bits he was selling at May’s market, held at Shoreditch’s Protein Studios. “It’s always a bit hectic, to be honest. It feels like getting ready for a fashion show. The buzz is the same because you’ve got loads of shit to finish.” He’s made around 30 pieces in total, a mismatch of sculptural, prehistoric-looking handbags, collaged T-shirts and “some other strange objects” he’s particularly excited about that can only be described as spiral, coiled exterior bustles that hook onto your waistband. “They’re really fab,” he says with pride.
Every so often, he’ll reprise some of his most recognisable silhouettes, this time around making a few pairs of his sought-after three-layered shorts (it’s safe to say that they don’t stay on the rail for long). Mazhar makes everything alone, chipping away at the stuff he concocts for the shop alongside a bunch of other exciting gigs, which recently included designing costumes for Lady Gaga’s headline Coachella set; some of the singer’s most bonkers headgear over the years has been the work of Mazhar.
Mazhar set up Fantastic Toiles as a home for makers of “weird, great stuff”
The market is a space to experiment, try new ideas and “have the freedom to express in whatever way you want”, he says. It harks back to the days of Hyper Hyper in Kensington Market, where the likes of Pam Hogg and Leigh Bowery would flog their glistening clubwear in the late ’80s. Or to now-shuttered boutiques like The Pineal Eye in Soho, which pushed the boundaries of what a fashion store could look like – with mannequins hanging from the ceiling, it was fiercely devoted to promoting the work of fresh talent.
“[Fantastic Toiles] is one of the only places in London where the underground and anti-fashion scenes are still alive,” says Alleyne. “It captures the spirit of what the city is all about. It’s a shame that so many independent retailers have closed, [but that means] spaces like Fantastic Toiles are more vital than ever. It’s an echo chamber of creativity and new ideas being pushed.”
It’s built around a community of mainly London based makers, ranging from more established names like Louise Gray and Noki, who’ve previously sold at the market, to students and those who never went to art school at all. There is crosspollination, with collaborations taking place between those involved. That includes Mazhar, who has been making headwear for Paolo Carzana (profiled on p216) after teaching him on the MA menswear course at CSM. “We all buy each other’s work, we all wear each other’s work. There is a genuine love and care for each other. We all want to mix ideas to see what new possibilities appear from working with each other,” says Mazhar.
“It’s nice to bounce ideas, get to know people and spend time together, as well as see what amazing things everyone has made every couple of months,” says Mellmann, backing up Mazhar’s ethos.
Now in its sixth year, Fantastic Toiles has never been more vital. It has proven to be a lifeline for a wealth of immense talent, many of whom would have been left to drown in a sea of unrealistic commercial demands without it. The goal, Mazhar says, is to have a permanent store. “That’s why in Forest Gate it was really sweet – we had shop decor, specific hangers, a mirrored floor. I’d love it if we just had a home, a base. It would eliminate so much fuss in finding new places and dealing with new problems. It would allow us to push forward with other things. If we could just get some government funding, or knew a developer who could let us use one of London’s empty spaces… If we can do all this with no funding or backing from anyone, imagine if we just had a little bit of support from somewhere?”
What can you do, helpful reader? Get yourself down to the next Fantastic Toiles. You’re guaranteed to find something weird and wonderful to infiltrate your wardrobe.
Taken from 10 Men Issue 62 – BIRTHDAY, EVOLVE, TRANSFORMATION – out on newsstands now. Order your copy here.
Photography by Elliot Morgan.
