Graduate Fashion Week
Sofia Redgrave attended Graduate Fashion Week at Earls Court, a forum to showcase the very best design talent from across the country. This year’s judges included Matthew Williamson, Giles Deacon and Lorraine Candy, editor of Elle. Sofia interviews the best talent on offer, and talks to past winners.
Jen Kamal, buyer for River Island, official sponsor of the show:
Jen spoke on behalf of River Island, but came across as really passionate about the young designers showing at Graduate Fashion Week (GFW), highlighting its importance in offering a platform to “meet new talent and to promote the brand itself.” River Island clearly takes a proactive, fostering role in the development of new talent. Last year’s Gold Award winner, Jessica Au, secured a permanent position with the company: “It is amazing,” says Jen, “A lot of the designers at River Island have been found here; a lot of the people within the company have done work placements through GFW. Its a way of getting new fresh young talent through the business.”
Jen says she is keeping an eye on Natalie Rose-Evans (see below) in particular: “I loved her collection. As a buyer I have to constantly keep my eyes and ears open, it’s important to keep things quite commercial. I know we are going to be seeing sequins everywhere in A/W and it was interesting to see her take on it.”
But does fresh, contemporary design sit well with the traditional image of River Island? Jen insists that “We are launching the A/W collection in July and it’s going to be all big shoulders and shimmery fabrics. We are taking everything that sells well and elevating our fashion credentials and the quality of fabrics. We are trying to push our girls into wearing even more fashion forward clothes and at the same time trying to bring in a new customer, someone more cool and edgy like Alexa Chung who would normally shop in somewhere like Topshop.
Natalie Rose-Evans, Northbrook College:
Natalie’s collection was a buyer’s dream: achingly on trend and with key similarities to the A/W Ashish collection that caused a stir in the fashion press earlier this year. She describes her collection as conveying “a tourist’s impression of New York City. The cut of my garments draws inspiration from the incredible architecture and magnitude of graphical imagery. Katy Perry was my target customer for my Graduate Collection. I find she’s not afraid to have a lot of fun with what she wears yet still look very feminine and sexy.”
Natalie admitted that the sequins she uses are glued on. “They are sequins on a string. I found you get a clearer visual this way as opposed to sewing them on which is an added bonus as it takes half the time!”
Yatri Pabari, University of Northampton:
Yatri was nominated for the prestigious River Island Gold Award, and showed at the final gala show. Her show was “very much about looking at the luxury side of fashion.”
She acknowledges the debt she owes to her university’s top fashion tuition: “when we started our final year at Uni, we were told to think of a bold statement, which consisted of a few words that we felt described ourselves. My bold statement was, ‘Sexy, Attitude, Individual and Unique”.
Ideally, Yatri would love to work for “Giorgio Armani, because the look of the womenswear collections is so high-end”.
Isla McLean, University of Northampton:
Isla was selected by Dazed Digital as a Graduate to watch, and she certainly didn’t disappoint with her tartan outfits: “My collection is based on hunting, a very British sport and past time. I love how elegant and smart everyone looks when out hunting or shooting, whether taking part or just observing. The smart tailoring, and cuts of hunt jackets was what really inspired me, I wanted to create a collection that evoked all of my passion for the hunt. Smooth lines enhance the silhouette of the woman, but I was also trying to keep things sexy. Finding all these vibrant, colourful tartans helped to achieve a sophisticated, traditional collection with a twist.” Isla is inspired by Vivienne Westwood, and was tempted to go all out on styling, but thought she should “play it safe”.
Last years Award winners at Graduate Fashion Week; Jessica Au (Gold Award and Textiles Award), Tim Rhys Evans (British Fashion Council Creative Cutting Award), and Domingo Rodriguez (Menswear Award):
I asked Jessica how winning the Gold Award had shaped her career in the fashion industry: “I wouldn’t be working for River Island now. They offered me a placement which turned into a permanent position so I was able to stay on in London. A lot of us can’t afford to stay in London without a job and I met a lot of industry insiders who I would never have had the chance to meet: Garry Hogeth (Agent Provocateur) Mulberry, John Lewis, the GFW commitee, and Jimmy Choo.
Domingo and Tim have both been aided by their presence at GFW too: “We are at the London College of Fashion doing a masters and were both awarded the Harold Tillman scholarship. This is funding us through our course which is great because otherwise we would never been able to have afford it.”
All three of last year’s winners offer sound advice to those wishing to succeed in the design side of the fashion industry: “Keep your head down and keep at it”, says Jessica, “Don’t think about the awards when you are doing your degree. Concentrating on getting your collection done should be the only thing you’ve got in your head.”
Jessica is keen to laud the efforts of the current crop of graduates, and highlighted the Kingston show as being of very high quality. Indeed, the Kingston graduates showed immense maturity and promise in their manifestly wearable designs.
Roxanne Pitteway, University of Northampton:
Another graduate lauded by Dazed, Roxanne’s collection had a more conceptual feel than her peers, which makes sense, since she would love to work for Hussein Chalayan “where I could be creative.”
Roxanne’s black leather creations were “inspired by beetles and cockroaches, taking from that the hard exoskeleton and the way a beetle’s back fits together into tightly locked shapes.”
She believes she is distinguished from other graduates by not pandering to scouts, instead creating a look of her own and not showing items “based on trends or previous designers”.
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