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| Sally
Kettle at the UCN Fashion Show |
My
memories of student
fashion shows consist of nervous looking girls (with an equally
nervous looking audience thinking "Please don't fall over!")
lathered in copious amounts of blue eyeshadow, modelling strange
creations made from black plastic bin bags or flattened Coke cans!
We can only thank a higher power for the end of the '80s and the
end of that awful fetish for recycling. Here's to reusing your plastic
shopping bags but not to wearing them!
The
UCN Graduate Fashion Show was very cool and although recycling did
feature in Esme Waltons collection "Semiotic Guerilla Fashion",
it was a far cry from the sack-like dresses of my youth!
Comic strip
One
of Esme's outfits brought together a Ninja Turtle necklace (Leonardo,
Michaelangelo, in fact the whole Ninja team!) and complemented it
with funky comic strip print streetwear a Japanese teenager would
be proud to strut in.
When
I first flicked through the programme, certain collections stood
out but I was determined not to make any judgements until I'd seen
the show. So with pen in hand I spent the next hour or two frantically
trying to capture every outfit on paper whilst calculating in my
head how much money I could spend on the gorgeous '60s inspired
black and white stripped ultra mini dress (Susannah Ngan's collection
"Victorian 60's") or the fantastically sexy blue fringed
hot pants teamed with a tailored white top with enough collar to
stretch from here to next Tuesday! (Rebecca Williams "A Las
Vegas Wedding").
In fact I had a fight on my hands for the hot pants with a journalist
from the Chronicle and Echo, but we both agreed we probably didn't
have the legs for them, but it almost came to blows!
Childlike
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A big
favourite with the crowds were the collections with a childlike
influence. Claire Hutchinson's "Bright New Things" brought
together bold flower prints, rainbows, sparkles and knitted pom
pom hats. A vibrant children's wear collection with a distinctive
'70s flavour.
Brown has never looked so quirky and cool, eight-year-old girls
will be trading their Barbies in for a pair of Claire's turn-up
trousers.
I asked Claire about her future plans: "When I leave [UCN]
I'll be going to a job in Leeds at Faraway Trade as an Assistant
Designer. They design children's wear. I have a passion for print
and I can go to extremes with children's clothes and that doesn't
always work with women's wear."
Claire's designs were expertly modelled by six fantastic girls from
Chaplins Stage School, Northampton.
Playtime
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Vicki
Kerridge, whose aptly named "Playtime" collection featured
in this years Alternative Fashion Week, had the audience in stitches
with her cheeky policeman print dress, primary coloured hooded tops
and puffball skirt. Her smiling dolly prints and 'Pippy Long Stocking'
socks were too cute for words!
Another
personal favourite were the mushroom-inspired creations of Werda
Lahfa's "Fun-gi" collection. Again myself and the Chron
girl were donning our gloves over a black skirt with enough petticoat
to put a small netting company out of business! We wouldn't have
had to worry about our legs, just how we were planning to sit down
in it!
Werda's other pieces were a more multi-media affair, PVC with soft
knitwear and gathered and roused natural linens in blue, black,
and moody steel.
She told me a little bit about her collection: "I was very
influenced by artificial nature, organic shapes like mushrooms.
I wanted to create living things, clothes that live off the body.
PVC is so versatile but I love working with linen, it drapes so
naturally".
Holllywood-esque
 |
Amber
Oates wowed the audience with her Marilyn Monroe-inspired "Girls
need Big Diamonds" collection. This decadent array of pastel,
polka dotted, '50s Hollywood-esque tailored jackets, dresses and
micro mini skirts yelled of a time where hair was blonde and men
were walking wallets. Big bows accessorised every outfit and of
the course the only other thing a girl needs to complete her outfit
- a 'liddle' white dog. (All held their breath for a Blue Peter
moment….)
I met Amber briefly after the show having dragged her and her model
around the auditorium desperately trying to find a suitable backdrop
to photograph her amazing pink fur Bolero jacket; which received
a Special Commendation from the British Fur Trade Association.
All
in all the show left me feeling all feminine inside, desperate to
go shopping but unfortunately very short!
It was not until I stood next to the 18-year-old giraffe in that
pink fur coat that I noticed how utterly amazing these women are.
I think you'll agree with me when I say they must be aliens!
Good
Luck to all the UCN Fashion Graduates in their future careers.
Preview
of Fashion Show »
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trevor cross
anoose's designs are poptastic with great grey tones groovey baby yeah
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