Graduate Fashion Week (was fabulous!)

I attended Graduate Fashion Week on Wednesday and was completely blown away. The show I attended was the Gala Show, which consists of the 30 shortlisted collections that are nominated for Gala Awards. Collections were shown from universities and colleges around the world even as far as Singapore.

The collections were breathtaking and featured such a diverse display of influence from ‘Poise, Elegance and Decorum’ in Nathalie Tunna’s collection to Oriental Dragons and Rituals in Anna Lee’s collection.

The graduate’s as always created such statements with their collections, Naomi New in particular (pictured above). Naomi, a graduate from Northumbria University collection featured heavily studded structural pieces with trains of real hair. It was clear that her influence was the warrior trend and the pieces were spectacular. Knitwear was huge on the Gala Catwalk this year, I personally loved Ledina Zhang’s, of Northumbria University, oversized multi-coloured pieces scattered with pom-poms and teamed with ear muffs. Ledina won the BHM Knitwear Visionary Award this year.

My favourite collection (pictured above) was Anna Lee’s from DeMontfort University. It featured fantastical prints that resembled flames and waterfalls, which in turn created such beautiful movement. The pieces consisted of printed velvet compiled to produce unique structures. The combination of the rich reds and gold’s with watery blues and greens complemented the theme perfectly. It was crystal clear that Anna’s theme was the Chinese Dragon yet she created such surprise and individuality with her collection, it was anything but expected. Anna finished off her ensembles perfectly with patterned tights and shoes and huge statement necklaces of dragons and tigers.  I was blown away by this collection and it seemed everyone else was too; Anna was presented with the Zandra Rhodes Catwalk Textiles prize at the Gala Awards last night.

The Gala Show also featured ready-to-wear pieces from the likes of Jeff Sweeney from the Edinburgh College of Art (who has Holly Fulton as alumni to boast about) and Nathalie Tunna (pictured above) from Kingston University whose ‘poised’ collection had me screaming for more. Jeff’s sumptuous evening wear, edged up with fur studded waistcoats just seemed so now and what young girls want when it comes to evening wear; I loved loved LOVED it.  Nathalie’s collection, which is said to be inspired by ‘Poise, Elegance and Decorum’, featured 1930’s shapes, high-waisted skirts, stiff collars and A-line structures. Made of duchase satin in sugary pretty pastels, Nathalie’s dresses, blazers and backpacks were sophisticated lady meets preppy.

Menswear also featured strongly this year the highlights being for me Thomas Crisp’s glitzy collection and Garry Butterfield’s mouth-watering collection. Thomas featured maroon skinny jeans, trophy jackets for men and fantastic printed scarves. From his collection it is clear that Thomas is also an amazing stylist, he got it spot-on and in doing so he was awarded the The Best Menswear Award.  Garry’s collection although the pallet was very tertiary, the textures and shapes he used more than made up for it. The highlights for me where the huge tartan cape and the ‘melt in you mouth’ butter leather blazers that were heavily embroidered and perfectly exemplified Garry’s craftsmanship. Garry's work is pictured below.

This year’s Gala Show was mesmerising, I left completely inspired and very excited to know that this is the next generation of the fashion frontier. We have a lot to look forward to. Congratulations to all the Graduates.

Images via* Arts Blog for Graduate Fashion Week, Simon Armstrong. Rankin for GFW and Skinny Cow GFW blog.