LCF present their ‘Stars of the Future’ for 2010 at the Dairy

A few weeks back I was deligfhted to attend the London College of Fashion ‘stars of the Future Show’ which showcased the work of their Fashion Design and Technology BA course. Held within the brand new warehouse venue, The Dairy in Bloomsbury which  takes its name from the former use of the site, I have fond members of all the milk floats from when I was a kid as I used to live about ten minutes away.

Many celebrity fans were in attendance including: Chairman of the British Fashion Council; Harold Tillman, Jane Shepherdson, William Tempest, Remi Nicole, Radio One DJ; Edith Bowman, Faithless, 2009 X-Factor contestant Diana Vickers and Mr Hudson.

As well as the aforementioned celebrity supporters in attendance, rather excitingly viewers from all over the world were able to log onto the LCF website to watch the show LIVE, marking a first for a fashion college worldwide, propelling the graduates to the same lofty heights of established brands such as Giorgio Armani, Alexander McQueen and Louis Vuitton.

As always we were treated to a stunning show with the emphasis on women’s wear. Interestingly a few designers included overage models in their line-up, which was really refreshing to see and put a different slant on the wearability of the collections.

Highlights from the 26 collections encompassed spider web crochet, pleats galore, exquisite felting, beaded footwear, and laser-cut Perspex accessories. As you’d expect from such a large showcase there was a lot of variety on display ranging from pared down minimalistic menswear through to acid brights and eye-catching prints.

The first award for Fashion Textiles was won by Karishma Shahani (from India), who opened the show with her stunning and vividly bright women’s wear collection.

The second award of the night was for Design and Technology which went to Yelena Loguiiko (from Belarus), whose collection featured lots of fringing.

The biggest award of the night: Collection of the Year was won by Nattaphon Sampataphakdee (from Thailand) whose tailored menswear collection inspired by French photographer Henri Cartier-Breeson was unanimously selected by the judges.

for the first time this year saw a fourth award, The Barnett Lawson Trimmings Award for Best Use of Embellishment was presented by Caroline Marx of Barnett Lawson Trimmings to Vilvin Sabu, from India for her beautiful Mayan and Aztec inspired ethical collection made of bamboo silks and natural dyes.

Images courtesy of LCF. From top to bottom: Harold Tillman and Colin McDowell (of the Sunday Times); Mr Hudson, Diana vickers and Edith Bowman; William Tempest and Remi Nicole - all courtesy of Morgan O'Donovan. Karishma Shahani and design, Yelena Loguiiko and design, Nattaphon Sampataphakdee and models and lastly Vilvin Sabu's design all courtesy of Chris Moore.