LCF class of 2011 BA Design and Technology catwalk show

Images throughout courtesy of Alex Maguire

Last night I attended the LCF class of 2011 BA Design and Technology catwalk show held at the new sprawling LCF showspace The Studio, in Paddington. A bit of a trek west, I was worried I wouldn’t make it in time, however as it turned out my arrival was perfectly timed and I had the opportunity to catch up with one of my former university lecturers, Tony Glenville (now LCF Creative Director, School of Media + Communication), before taking my back row seat, before being bumped to the frow (due to no-shows).

Featuring presentations from 25 groundbreaking designers (from a combination of Womenswear, Menswear and Surface Textiles courses), the innovation displayed was breathtaking and surpassed all of my expectations – with each annual show consistently smashing through the ceiling of previous successes. Packing a socker-punch straight to the kleptomaniac and magpie regions of my brain, every collection had its strengths and intriguing elements, with no designers taking the easy route, each creating a myriad of layers and displaying exquisite attention to detail that resulted in the most superior design execution and innovation I’ve seen in London for a long time.

Taking pride of place in the frow was BFC chairman Harold Tillman and continued LCF supporters Jodie Harsh and Jo Wood, whom I’ve seen at numerous shows over the years. Other celebs dotted around included the legendary Barbara Hulanicki, model Daisy de Villeneuve and one of the most influential women in fashion, Jane Shepherdson.

Featuring models discovered through LCF Loves - an open street casting which aimed to find unique individuals who reflect the diversity of this year’s collections - I was really impressed by the level of ethnic diversity on the catwalk across both womenswear and menswear. It’s of my personal opinion that the African male models really brought a different edge (not seen in other shows), and reminded me of some of the beautiful models favoured by Simon Foxton in the early i-D days.

Reflecting fashions from near enough every era imaginable, I felt that each and every student was a winner, however as is always the case there could only be three winners on the night.

Barnett Lawson Award for the best use of trimmings - Charlotte Barry (22):
Hailing from Liverpool Barry was praised for her incredible detailing and superior use of embellishment and trimmings in a year where every designer went for broke. Reminiscent of Mary Katrantzou’s beautiful SS11 collection, Barry utilised tassel shoulder detailing to create perfect proportions. My pick for this award, Barry sampled beautiful brocades in rich golds, with appliqué and a delight of trimmings and embellishments reading like a master-class in Asian textiles. Perfectly completing the ethereally styled looks were stacked textured bangles to match the dresses and mock-croc effect shoes also embellished.

Biddle Sawyers Silks Award for innovative use of fabrics - Stine Riis (28):
Hailing from Copenhagen, Denmark Riis was celebrated for her innovative use of silk with wool, chiffon and patent leather. With an array of stunning blue, white and green pieces I feel Riis would be perfect for a Milan fashion house, with each of her garments made with such precision and attention to detail that they reminded me of Miu Miu and Celine under the helm of Phoebe Philo.

Collection of the Year - Wun Wun Nova Chiu (24):
Originally from Hong Kong, Chiu was judged to have phenomenal technical skill and creative flair by the panel. On my note pad, upon seeing this collection, the first words I wrote were ‘jingle, jingle’ as small (but loud), silver bells featured heavily throughout the collection. Brightly dyed furs dominated, coupled with the most intriguing tribal inspired headdresses. Beads, plait detailing and of course bells, were a signature appearing everywhere including on beautiful two-tone platform sandals.

Stay tuned for another LCF post later in the week with details of my (other) favourite designers from the showcase, who sadly missed out on the awards.

London College of Fashion MA_10 Human catwalk show

Imagery throughout courtesy of Creative-Idle, unless stated otherwise.

Last night the world and his wife were out in full force for the MA_10 Human catwalk showcase held in the serene Raphael Gallery within a closed Victoria and Albert Museum.

As one of the first to worm my way into the gallery – after enjoying the champagne reception in the foyer – myself and H were in prime position to spot who was arriving and who was falling down the stairs! As you might expect taking pride of place in the front row was the Daily Telegraph’s Hilary Alexander who rather deftly walked up along the front row to jot down which other famous faces were to be in attendance – clearly a lady well versed in documenting fashion shows!

Representing the British Fashion Industry were head of the British Fashion Council (and owner of brands Jaeger and Aquascutum); Harold Tillman, Editor-in-chief of Vogue.com; Dolly Jones and a naturally beautiful and healthy looking Amber Le Bon; the new model of the moment fronting campaigns for Myla and River Island. Also present were founder of On I Off; Lee Lapthorne – who last season forayed into the fashion fore launching a range of scarves – and Jaana Jatyri; founder of Trendstop.com. Representing the music sphere was Mika who – thankfully not singing - appeared in good form chatting away with Jodie Harsh (whom he arrived and left with). Between Jodie Harsh and 2003 Turner Prize winning potter; Grayson Perry, the front row was awash with bouncy blonde hair extensions and wigs – and enough glitter to make Tinkerbell jealous!

To my great surprise I saw several familiar faces starting with one of the champagne waiter’s Joe, whom I worked alongside at a wedding last month. Also in attendance were not one, but two Tony’s who both formerly lectured me in ways of Fashion Promotion before departing for greener pastures at LCF a few years back. Another familiar face from said university was an old classmate Siavash – recently for his stint in Big Brother 10, where I do believe he came second.

So there I was in the thick of it getting settled into my back-row seat when H made a break for the hallowed pews of the front row where we were allowed to take the place of a privileged couple who couldn’t grace us with their presence – luckily for me. From my front row seat (did I mention that we were opposite Hilary Alexander no less?) I settled in to watch the MA designer showcase. With a modicum of seven menswear shows from 19, last night was most definitely ladies night.

With several stand-out collections, it was hard to predict who might win the awards, but one thing was for sure – these designers will be hot on the heels of the fashion pack when they debut next season.

Sophie Condie

Among those who commanded my attention were Sophie Condie; whose women looked like birds flitting down the runway. With many of the garments painstakingly hand finished with feathers, the attention to detail was phenomenal. What really stood out from this collection for me, was how well it partnered the dramatic, yet beautifully sculptural headpieces designed by Rob Goodwin (MA Fashion Footwear) who also designed the out-of-this-world footwear which innovatively featured several nails as features – and as the spike heels themselves.

Rob Goodwin, image courtesy of LCF

Another women’s wear design whose collection was well received, was that of Eliana Dimitriakopoulou whose garments all featured brightly coloured dyed faux-fur, which on first sighting (without my much-needed-glasses) looked like the Muppets doing a star turn on the catwalk.

Eliana Dimitriakopoulou

Eliana Dimitriakopoulou, courtesy of LCF

With chic separates and faux-fur jackets peppered here and there, the main garments were a variety of dress shapes and cuts which each featured the acid-bright faux-fur on the front and were sheer black at the backs with full length zip detail. My favourite dress from this collection was a pared-down soft faux-fur asymmetric dress which whilst looking simple in its draped construction, was a real gem which solidified Dimitriakopoulou’s credentials as a designer to watch due to both her technical abilities and versatility.

Eliana Dimitriakopoulou

Another stand out designer was Steve Corcoran; whose neutrally toned menswear collection, of mirror encrusted military regalia, turned the Raphael Gallery into a mini-disco (and most probably blinded every photographer in attendance, including myself, hence the lack of pictures).

Steve Corcoran

One of my favourite collections was the androgynous menswear designed by Thomas Miller. Whilst the clothing was well designed, it was a bit too muted for me, so instead I got very excited about the accompanying accessories designed by Sarah Williams (MA Fashion Artefact).

Sarah Williams- bag

I already love old leather briefcases, vanity cases, and all other 60s inspired luggage, so naturally I fell in love with Sarah’s take on these classic items. Each bag was beautifully structured, yet still maintained a playful element as the line was slightly off, making the bags look highly individual in a purposefully skew-whiff way – adding lots of charm to Thomas’ collection.

Sarah Williams, image courtesy of LCF

Whilst on the subject of accessories I also really liked the shoes worn by many of the male models in the opening collection by Keiko Kida. Whilst it is slightly ambiguous as to whether Keiko actually designed and constructed these double-brogues himself, I loved them none the less. **update**The designer was kind enough to get in touch and let me know that he did indeed make and design the shoes himself!

Keiko Kida

Twelfth to hit the runway was the collection which caused much controversy – that of Merve Tuna. Holding no victims she proudly sent her female models down the catwalk in what animal lovers and animal rights activist groups (such as PETA) would find highly disturbing– dead animals.

Merve Tuna

Not only featuring fur, there were enough paws, faces and trotters decorating each garment to drive a taxidermist to distraction! Unfortunately from the front row (am I seriously complaining about that?!) I got an horrendous close-up of what can only be described as a boar-face bag (sadly I was too shocked to click with the camera). ** Found one **

Merve Tuna, image courtesy of Dazed Digital

Whilst his designs were innovatively forward-thinking they clearly aren’t the garments that (if any from the 19 collections shown) you’d expect to see hanging up in a shop anytime soon, no-matter how boutique-y.

Merve Tuna

What was very apparent throughout the show, was the clear sense of humour shining through the direction, reflected in sometimes apt song choices - such as ‘Crazy’ by Patsy Cline for Merve Tuna’s rather off-beat taxidermy heavy show, and also reflected the more bizarre - with Soo Youn Seo sending her models out to the Simpson’s theme tune.

Young Li Lee

My favourite designer of the night was the outstanding Young Li Lee, whose sculptural embroidered lace dresses really stole the show. Super elegant structured bodices and pencil skirts shined forth, each embellished uniquely by overstitching, appliquéd lace, or bondage-esque braces, with each built-up beautifully and finished with such delicate attention to detail that the results were simply breathtaking.

Young Li Lee

Harold Tillman (centre)

After the finale Harold Tillman was called to the catwalk to present the awards. In hindsight it was Technicolor that the winners knew who they were as they were the penultimate and last designers to show which meant that when their names were announced the female and male models respectively were still wearing the winning collections – you see what they did? So enough of the suspense, up first with an award for ‘Commendation’ (that’s silver to you and I), was the superb Young Li Lee.

Young Li Lee collecting her award

Sven Hoppe collecting his award

Closing the show and therefore cleaning the board was Sven Hoppe who was presented with the ‘Prestigious’ Student Collection of the Year Award.

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