All photography by Amelia Gregory.
At the nearby Brady Centre in Tower Hamlets a team of designers have been beavering away under the name A Team Arts and for awhile it all went a little crazy backstage on day 4 of Alternative Fashion Week. What I could deduce was theirs was quite frankly bonkers. A tiny innocuous looking blonde girl stood by her three crazy orange and brown outfits featuring pop-sock festooned polystyrene balls growing carbuncle-like in every direction.
To continue the costume design theme someone had decided to turn men into dragons, with one poor model entirely covered in what can only be described as a large knitted spotty body sock. The poor fella inside mumbled something to me about having been street cast and not knowing what he had let himself in for, but hey what the heck no one was going to see his face.
This wee girl was not so keen on having her picture taken, but she’d created some pretty amazing jewellery/accessory pieces out of laser cut shapes.
Lorraine’s batik Afrochic outfit was worn by the most amazing model – check out her absolutely loving up the camera. A photographer’s dream.
I presume the pieces below all come from that creative Brady Centre bunch. From subverted English tailoring to bold fitted dresses, there was much to admire in this group.
Elif Muzaffer hails from Turkey, but graduated from Ravensbourne last year having specialised in womenswear and textiles. Titled A Struggle Within, a love of print was obvious in this elegantly presented collection of tailored coats and long ballgowns worn by willowy models. I loved the colour range, all deep juicy oranges and sultry shades of deep blue and violet. Elif emailed me to thank me for my interest that evening and wisely set up a blog last week after I queried how I could link to more of her work. Take note, other designers that I am struggling to write about!
Elif Muzzafer with her girls. Definitely one to watch.
Renata Suchanova not only has a wonderful name but her website sports a pretty fabulous collection of purple clothing. It’s a shame I can’t find any snaps of her collection at Alternative Fashion Week – did I miss it? Was it incredibly different? I’ll probably never know…
Serbian Mila Popovic was found cursing the volcano – she had travelled overland to make the catwalk on time and was sounding harassed. Next to her the make up artist Maya was sporting the most fabulous henna arm tattoos. I liked Mila’s eclectic collection The Flowers of Romance which is co-designed with sister Tijana, and featured bright patterns mixed with traditional tailoring. According to the little booklet she raced off to find for me their Cash for Trash showroom promotes “eko design” though I am not sure in what way.
UCreative from the University for the Creative Arts in Rochester closed the day with Metamorphosis/Transformation and another flurry of young girls in a melange of creamy ruffles. Make up artist Phoebe Dalziel explained that she used lace to spray paint directly onto the faces of the models.
Rochester Girls. I used to teach on the fashion promotion course down there. Once upon a time.
Day 4 got so out of control that I have split it into two parts: you can read part one of this post here.
You can read up on day 2 here and day 3 here.
Tags:
Alternative Fashion Week, Brady Centre, Elif Muzaffer, ravensbourne, Renata Suchanova, Rochester, spitalfields, Tijana and Mila Popovic, Tower Hamlets, UCreative, University for the Creative Arts
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