Amelia’s Magazine | Graduate Fashion Show Gala Show 2014 Review

Holly Jayne Smith by Sine Skau

Holly Jayne Smith by Sine Skau.

I have been attending Graduate Fashion Week for six years now and every year I wonder how such young designers manage to be so creative. Once again the final 25 collections showcased in last week’s Gala Show were truly outstanding and revealed a wide range of talent to watch. The night began on a poignant note with a moment’s thought for the late Louise Wilson, the formidable Central Saint Martins tutor who was integral in the training of luminaries such as Christopher Kane, Jonathan Saunders and Mary Katrantzou. Here’s hoping that one of these finalists and winners goes on to as much success.

GFW Aimee Dunn by Gareth A Hopkins

Aimee Dunn by Gareth A Hopkins.

GFW Menswear Award: Aimee Dunn – Nottingham Trent University
I know it’s menswear but who doesn’t love stealing their boyfriends clothes? Dunn’s collection of monochrome looks were superbly put together and with Thatcher on the front of a jumper you’re never going to avoid attention. Dunn also picked up the Menswear award at the end of the evening – well deserved.

Grace Weller GFW 2014 Bath Spa Uiversity by Jenny Robins

Grace Weller by Jenny Robins.

Grace Weller by  Julie J Seo

Grace Weller by Julie J.Seo.

George Gold Award winner and GFW Womenswear Award: Grace Weller – Bath Spa University
The embroidery and workmanship that had gone into Grace’s beautiful collection of Erdem-esque floral and sheer dresses was astounding. Not only did Grace pick up the Womenswear Award but she walked away with the £10,000 Gold Award to kick start her label.

Rebecca Rimmer by Vicky Scott
Rebecca Rimmer by Vicky Scott.

Rebecca Rimmer – UCLAN
Brightly coloured clothes painted onto bigger clothes. Sounds ridiculous, works really well on the catwalk, as Rebecca Rimmer proved. Her cartoonish collection was fun and original as well as having a high impact on the audience as it closed the show.

Holly Jayne Smith by Hye Jin Chung_2

Holly Jayne Smith by Hye Jin Chung.

Holly Jayne Smith by Sine Skau

Holly Jayne Smith by Sine Skau.

Holly Jayne Smith – Birmingham City
Foot-high hats and a pop art colour palette ensured this collection caught our attention and made us rethink light blue as a staple. The models also carried co-ordinated bright sports back packs which I loved.

GFW Shan Liao Huang by Gareth A Hopkins

GFW International Winner: Shan Liao Huang by Gareth A Hopkins.

Lauren Lake – Kingston University
Coloured fur made its mark last season and Lauren Lake’s first model strode out in a huge over sized, pink fur-lined shearling coat, so it was always going to be a winner. The silver metallic skirts and block boots, pink PVC and top knots ticked all the boxes, just amazing.

Colleen Leitch – Edinburgh College of Art
80’s glamour is back in Colleen Leitch’s collection of exquisite looks brought together by scattered sequins and dark colours in draping fabrics clinched at the waist for maximum femininity.

HANNAH DONKIN BY JANE YOUNG

Hannah Donkin by Jane Young.

GFW Creative Catwalk Award: Camilla Grimes – Manchester School of Art
Pink fur again, hopefully not real, (trend alert!) but this time alongside a more delicate and feminine ensemble that had hints of Jonathan Saunders about it (never a bad thing). Sheer embroidered shirts and a hooded bomber jacket were just two of the items I want in my wardrobe.

Fashion graduates of 2015, I can’t wait to see what you’ll have in store!

Categories ,2014, ,Aimee Dunn, ,Bath Spa University, ,Birmingham City University, ,Camilla Grimes, ,Central Saint Martins, ,Christopher Kane, ,Colleen Leitch, ,Edinburgh College of Art, ,Gala Show, ,Gareth A Hopkins, ,Grace Weller, ,Graduate Fashion Week, ,Hannah Donkin, ,Holly Jayne Smith, ,Hye Jin Chung, ,Jane Young, ,Jenny Robins, ,Jonathan Saunders, ,Julie J Seo, ,Kingston University, ,Lauren Lake, ,Louise Wilson, ,Manchester School of Art, ,Mary Katrantzou, ,Nottingham Trent University, ,Rebecca Rimmer, ,review, ,Shan Liao Huang, ,Sine Skau, ,Truman Brewery, ,UCLan, ,Vicky Scott

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Amelia’s Magazine | Graduate Fashion Week 2011 Gala Awards Show: Menswear

Andy_Bumpus_Carl_James_Illingworth
Carl James Illingworth by Andy Bumpus.

In some ways the menswear at the Graduate Fashion Week Gala Awards was more fun than the womenswear… particularly with the addition of a whacky white haired older male model who clearly thought the show was all about him. His over the top posing was certainly entertaining to photograph.

Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Carl James Illingworth 2011-photo Amelia GregoryGraduate Fashion Week Gala show Carl James Illingworth 2011-photo Amelia GregoryGraduate Fashion Week Gala show Carl James Illingworth 2011-photo Amelia Gregory
Carl James Illingworth of Northumbria University showed a great collection in black and grey with metallic highlights – studs, cure a crown and plenty of sequins giving a sparkly royal feel. Follow Carl James Illingworth on twitter.

Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Felix Wolodymyr ChablukSmith 2011--photo Amelia GregoryGraduate Fashion Week Gala show Felix Wolodymyr ChablukSmith 2011--photo Amelia GregoryGraduate Fashion Week Gala show Felix Wolodymyr ChablukSmith 2011--photo Amelia Gregory
Felix Wolodymyr Chabluk Smith from Edinburgh College of Art showed a very confident tailored collection. It was definitely the most obviously commercial collection: he won the menswear award.

Andy_Bumpus_Genevieve_Davroy
Genevieve Davroy by Andy Bumpus.

Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Genevieve Davroy 2011-Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Genevieve Davroy 2011-Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Genevieve Davroy 2011-Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Genevieve Davroy 2011-Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Genevieve Davroy 2011-
Genevieve Davroy of Kingston University showed brightly coloured felted shorts and interesting textured knitwear. I liked the combination of primary colours with muted grey.

Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Rose Dent 2011Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Rose Dent 2011Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Rose Dent 2011Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Rose Dent 2011Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Rose Dent 2011Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Rose Dent 2011
From University of Manchester Rose Dent took inspiration from sportswear style – sending her models out with mesh bags of balls and big DENT branding brandished across chests and backs. There was lots of clashing coloured print on shirts and on tracksuits. Follow Rose Dent on twitter.

Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Wang Li Xuang 2011Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Wang Li Xuang 2011Graduate Fashion Week Gala show Wang Li Xuang 2011
Lastly Wang Li Xuang of Istituto Marangoni Milan went back to a more sombre colourway with oversized knitted capes and cowls – lovely stuff but the devil to photograph on such a dark catwalk.

It’s great to see some of those fashion designers above are on twitter, prescription but just one last word to graduating designers everywhere, both those who made it to the Gala Awards and those who didn’t or who are pursuing another creative avenue: make sure you use twitter to promote yourself! It’s such a valuable networking tool, and you’re wasting its potential if you just use it to gossip with friends. Leave that to your personal facebook profile – the whole world can see you on twitter, and you should be using it to present a professional image. Talk about your achievements, link to your website and make the most of its powerful ranking in search engines.

If you’d like to know more about how to make the best of social networking I’ll be teaching on the Fashion Bootcamp from the Centre for Fashion Enterprise on 9th-10th July. Find out more here and here.

Categories ,Andy Bumpus, ,Carl James Illingworth, ,Centre for Fashion Enterprise, ,Earls Court, ,Edinburgh College of Art, ,Facebook, ,Fashion Bootcamp, ,Felix Wolodymyr Chabluk Smith, ,Gala Awards, ,Genevieve Davroy, ,GFW, ,Graduate Fashion Week, ,Istituto Marangoni Milan, ,Kingston University, ,knitwear, ,Manchester School of Art, ,menswear, ,Northumbria University, ,Rose Dent, ,twitter, ,University of Manchester, ,Wang Li Xuang

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Amelia’s Magazine | New Designers 2013 Ceramics and Craft: The Best Graduate Designers

Charlotte Mary Pack - critically endangered mammal in porcelain
New Designers part one plays host to large number of crafts and ceramics graduates: here’s the ones that caught my eye, starting with the work of Charlotte Mary Pack of Central Saint Martins. She grew up on a farm, which inspired an early love of nature that is manifested in her stunning porcelain models of every critically endangered mammal.

Ru Raynor ceramics characters
I adored ceramic characters designed to prompt environmental awareness by Ru Raynor, who has merged her inner hippy and nerd together to create a saleable range that is inspired by her love of vinyl toys.

Kako Oya
Ceramic artist Kako Oya explored the frailties of the human condition using the body language of rabbits.

New Designers show 2013-Charlotte Stockley Midsurrey Ceramics
Charlotte Stockley‘s Midsurrey Ceramics range would sit nicely alongside all the 50s inspired interiors design I’ve seen this year; I’m not surprised to discover that she already sells in a host of shops.

upcycled teddy bear by Ginni Jones Mansueto
This upcycled teddy bear was by designer maker Ginni Jones Mansueto.

metal plates by Sophie Jones at Hereford
Sophie Jones of Hereford College of the Arts created these intriguing distorted platters, which were forged in iron before being given an eye-catching makeover with neon spray paints.

New Designers show 2013-Emma Hughes
Emma Hughes had made these rattling ceramic dolls inspired by African and South American tribal rituals – it’s not the first time I’ve seen this kind of work from artists at Hereford College but I still can’t help but be drawn to it.

New Designers show 2013-Elizabeth Hart
These incredible ceramic pots by Elizabeth Hart at Nottingham Trent University were created with the garden in mind. I love the organic textures that seem to mimic a mixture of moss, bark and barnacles: they looked incredible filled with tumbling houseplants.

New Designers show 2013-glassbirdstudio
These beautiful glass insect wall hangings are by Georgina Foster of Glass Bird Studio, created through a combination of screen printing and sandblasting.

New Designers show 2013-Richard T Roberts glass
I’ll always be a sucker for cute animals. These wonderful glass versions of popular favourites are by Richard T Roberts.

New Designers show 2013-Bethany Lanning
Bethany Lanning‘s evisceral ceramic heads were designed as a tribute to the abused of the world – her evocative use of clay slip an echo of real life stigmatisation.

New Designers show 2013-Emma Claire Whiston
From Manchester School of Art ceramicist Emma Claire Whiston created beautiful slipware bowls decorated with slices of pattern.

New Designers show 2013-Elise Menghini
Elise Menghini of Bath Spa University made this ceramic bulb design which must have been inspired by the fairground. I really liked her witty ‘business card’ – a slice of ceramic that looked like a piece of rock candy.

George Groenhuysen ceramics
Finally, I must mention the astonishing ceramics installation by George Groenhuysen, a graduate of Kensington and Chelsea College. I unfortunately did not manage to take a photo of his cabinet full of blackened earthenware so instead here’s a shot from his promotional postcard showing a fabulous teapot encrusted with skulls.

*Many of these images first appeared on my instagram feed, where you can view my pick of design graduates as I find them.*

Categories ,2013, ,Bath Spa University, ,Bethany Lanning, ,Central Saint Martins, ,ceramics, ,Charlotte Mary Pack, ,Charlotte Stockley, ,craft, ,Elise Menghini, ,Elizabeth Hart, ,Emma Claire Whiston, ,Emma Hughes, ,George Groenhuysen, ,Georgina Foster, ,Ginni Jones Mansueto, ,Glass Bird Studio, ,Hereford College of the Arts, ,Kako Oya, ,Kensington and Chelsea College, ,Manchester School of Art, ,Midsurrey Ceramics, ,New Designers, ,Nottingham Trent University, ,review, ,Richard T Roberts, ,Ru Raynor, ,Sophie Jones

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