Central Saint Martins once again put on a BA show that demonstrated a range of talent that are either hoping to carry on and progress to the famed MA course or strike out on their own with labels, fuelled by the recent success of young graduates like Craig Lawrence and Mark Fast. We picked out ten students from the forty that showed and quizzed them about their collections, hopes and dreams and idols with a lot of people name dropping Gianni Versace. An indication of a shifting mood perhaps.
In amongst the chosen ten are L'Oreal Professionnel Awards prize winner Marie Hill and runners up Dean Quinn and Luke Brooks. Not that the prizes mattered as much as the diverse showcase that the school continues to come up trumps with.
Marie Hill - Womenswear
Describe your graduate collection.
It’s about power women. It’s about the aim for physical perfection and luxurious self indulgence. Basically modern decadence!
What films/books/tv-programs/moments and stories inspired your designs?
I looked very much at Helmet Newton and the whole 80s’ era of power women and their aims of physical perfection.
Describe the moment you realised you wanted to be a fashion designer?
I’ve just always wanted to be one, growing up making making dresses for my sister and myself.
Who is your all time fashion idol?
Not really!
What new designers do you respect?
Marios Schwab, Mark Fast, Christopher Kane – the CSM lot!
If you could go back in time and experience any fashion moment, what would it be?
I would like to have seen old Thierry Mugler stuff when it was happening or Gianne Versace when he was there.
If you weren’t a fashion designer who would you be?
I’d probably be a hardcore critic on aesthetics.
Dean Quinn - Womenswear
Describe your graduate collection.
I worked for ThreeAsFour in New York and they find it hard to make it commercially and then coming back to London, it's also really hard to be commercial because people make such crazy things but they don't care. For me I wanted it to be a mix of both and create clothes that women would wear as opposed to a studenty collection.
What films/books/tv-programs/moments and stories inspired your designs?
The whole collection was inspired by Bladerunner, film noire-esque shadows coming through the window. Like in Bernardo Bertolucci's film The Confirmist where the light shines in through the window onto the body so the beads on the pieces are like the shadows created by the light.
Who is your all time fashion idol?
It changes all the time! I love the way Madonna dressed in the 90s in Tom Ford's clothes. Phoebe Philo's stuff for Chloe - I love the way she did amazing investment pieces for women.
What new designers do you respect?
I love Roksanda Ilincic as a person. My style is so different from hers but the way she dresses and her being, is the kind of woman I want to dress. She's doing couture type finishings in London, which is so hard.
If you could go back in time and experience any fashion moment, what would it be?
When Tom Ford became the biggest designer in the world.
Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
I'd like to work for a major house like Christian Dior, where they have the embroidery people, the design people, the dyeing people and you have all these groups that can make something together in a day.
If you weren’t a fashion designer who would you be?
I'd probably be a English teacher! No not really, I'd be a filmmaker because my second love is film.
Luke Brooks - Fashion Knitwear
Describe your graduate collection.
I was in Paris and I started reading about Jerusalem’s Syndrome, where people go on pilgrimage package tours and some of them get so overwhelmed by being there and they get this religious feeling and it turns into a psychosis.
There’s a whole list of syndromes like taking their bedsheets, going out looking biblical and preaching.
I found that really lovely and it’s complicated because they call it a syndrome but who are we to say they’re not having a wonderful time.
Describe the moment you realised you wanted to be a fashion designer?
On the foundation course, I tried fashion out and it was good so I carried on.
Who is your all time fashion idol?
I think a lot about Mariano Fortuny – that sort of artisanal designer.
If you could go back in time and experience any fashion moment, what would it be?
It would probably be weaving in Celtic times because my grandma is Irish and it’s in the blood. Or ancient Africa.
Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
I was telling myself that I would be a freelance knitwear designer but going through the process of this collection, it made me feel like I could be at the helm of my own thing which I was shying away from.
I’d also really like to set up a monastery that was focused on creating knitwear.
If you weren’t a fashion designer who would you be?
Maybe a monk? I fantasise a lot about being a housewife, cooking and cleaning but to a higher level.
Eun Kyung Kim - Womenswear
Describe your graduate collection.
While working on this collection, I tried to translate songs into garments by repeating pleats. It’s young, fun and a little bit kitschy. Old-fashioned methods of pleating have also been an inspiration, and I looked at some work of Issey Miyake and Madeleine Vionnet.
What films / books/ tv programmes / moments inspired your designs?
I’m very inspired by music and songs such as “The Summer Song” by Yach or Gossip’s “YR Mangled Heart”.
Describe the moment you realized you wanted to be a fashion designer?
I was 15 and just saw my first fashion show.
What designers do you respect?
Alber Elbaz, Dries van Noten and Marc Jacobs.
Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
Having my own label stocked in Harrods!
If you weren’t a fashion designer who would you be?
A photographer like Cindy Sherman.
Tamaki Fujiye - Fashion Print
Describe your graduate collection.
The print started everything off.
What films / books/ tv programmes / moments inspired your designs?
Gothic music, middle ages, religious art.
Describe the moment you realized you wanted to be a fashion designer?
My mother is a jewellery designer so I always grew up surrounded by fashion. At first, I studied sociology because I wanted to get a job as a magazine editor. After a while I decided I wanted to design my own clothes.
Who is your all time fashion idol?
Someone with a strong identity and their own style.
What designers do you respect?
Anna Sui, Christian Lacroix and Comme des Garcons. I’m not the person to design like them but I love their style.
Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
Hopefully I'll have own label.
Kye - Menswear
Describe your graduate collection.
My collection was themed around physical features of the body with fun details.
What films/books/tv-programs/moments and stories inspired your designs?
There were certain serious artists that influenced me – but I interpreted them in a fun way - Koen Hauser and Fabrica Files.
Describe the moment you realised you wanted to be a fashion designer?
I come from a fine art family background and when I chose fashion they were really mad as they thought it was not a serious art but now they’re really supportive.
Who is your all time fashion idol?
It keeps changing but right now I have to say Kim Jones.
What new designers do you respect?
Komakino and Gareth Pugh.
If you could go back in time and experience any fashion moment, what would it be?
Maybe when Versace got shot?
If you weren’t a fashion designer who would you be?
An artist or chef.
Blandine Bardeau - Womenswear
Describe your graduate collection.
It’s about transformation, people who are unconventional and who have chosen unconventional routes. People like Bjork or Coco Rosie. I also wanted to talk about evolution. What does it mean to be a boy or a girl? These days being human is almost unacceptable, so I decided to create those creatures, who are like animal human beings.
What films / books/ tv programmes / moments inspired your designs?
Movies by Michel Gondry, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Emir Kusturica. My collection was particularly inspired by this book I read for my dissertation called “Transformations” by Grant David McCracken.
Describe the moment you realized you wanted to be a fashion designer?
I’ve wanted this since I was a kid. I remember I was always dressing up and putting on theatre plays.
Who is your all time fashion idol?
Bjork.
Which designers do you respect?
Bernhard Willhelm and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac.
If you weren’t a fashion designer who would you be?
An artist or illustrator.
Phoebe English - Fashion Knitwear
Describe your graduate collection.
The collection is quite archaic. It’s based on a book called “Gormenghast”, which is a beautiful gothic novel by Mervyn Peake. The novel is very epic and it has those unbelievable hand-drawn illustrations inside, which really inspired me.
Describe the moment you realized you wanted to be a fashion designer?
When I was 15, I was taken to the opening of Radical Fashion at the V&A. I remember staring at a glass box with McQueen’s red feather dress inside. I was completely mesmerized by his work and that’s when I decided that I wanted to provoke the same feelings in others with my own designs.
Who is your all time fashion idol?
Mr Pearl. I worked for him when I was 18 and then last summer. He’s an amazing person and his work is extremely sublime.
What designers do you respect?
Peter Pilotto, Alexander McQueen, Alaia and Balenciaga.
Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
Hopefully in Paris, far away from smelly London!
If you weren’t a fashion designer who would you be?
I would have a drama degree.
Ji Hin Kim - Fashion Print
Describe your graduate collection.
It was about Memories of London and it was divided in halves. One half is my own identity and so I looked around my flat, my area and made observations around there. The other half represents the British gentleman using dark colours and basic shapes and to make it a bit more interesting, I added the moustache!
What films/books/tv-programs/moments and stories inspired your designs?
I really like Magritte and the clouds in his paintings.
Describe the moment you realised you wanted to be a fashion designer?
When I was young, and went to weddings, I really loved wedding dresses and always wanted to make them more beautiful.
If you could go back in time and experience any fashion moment, what would it be?
I really like tidy and feminine clothes so I'd go back to the 50s'.
Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
I haven't really thought about it! I'd love to be involved in textiles.
If you weren't a fashion designer, what would you be?
A chef?
Peter Bailey - Fashion Print
Describe your graduate collection.
It started with the idea for doing a resort collection for men. I wanted to do something with a free spirit, going on holiday and being glamourous. It’s inspired by Cuba.
What films/books/tv-programs/moments and stories inspired your designs?
There was one book full of shots of crumbling buildings in Havana that had all these dusty colours coming through on the walls.
Describe the moment you realised you wanted to be a fashion designer?
I’ve always wanted to be a designer. I remember drawing pictures of shell suits for my brother!
Who is your all time fashion idol?
I love Norman Parkinson. My favourite shot is of Jerry Hall in Russia holding a huge red flag.
If you could go back in time and experience any fashion moment, what would it be?
Old Versace! I want big, brash and trashy! Either that or late 60s’ bohemia, Ossie Clark type thing.
Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
In ten years time, I will be on holiday wearing a resort collection!
If you weren’t a fashion designer who would you be?
I’d love to be a performer of some sort – a disco star!
Holly Lee-Fox
Ana Canadas
Ana Canadas
Alexander Ruth
Helen Bullock
Olga Shishkina
John Booth
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