The results of yesterday's UK election were a bit of a surprise for all involved, from the Tories losing seats and now (at the time of writing this post) trying to form a government with the Democratic Unionist Party, to the Labour party, stunned by the fact they gained 261 seats. But in the last few days there was another surprise, certainly less relevant than the UK election results, but equally interesting.
Around 1,500 students from universities all over the UK took part in London's Graduate Fashion Week (from 4th to 7th June). The fair featured hundreds of catwalk shows: one of the sell-out events was the runway by the Edinburgh College of Art (ECA), but that wasn't the only highlight for the Scottish institution.
The final surprise arrived indeed when it was announced that five of their students had won six major prize. The top prize, the Christopher Bailey Gold Award – consisting in £10,000 to the winning student and £2,000 for their university – went to Halina North, who also won the Hilary Alexander Trailblazer Award sponsored by Swarovski.
North showcased a womenswear collection that comprised sculptural dresses created combining recycled paper (decorated with a plaid motif she derived from Scottish tartan) and plastics with high fabrics.
The designs were a sort of experimental way for the student to experiment in creating sustainable textiles for pieces that had a couture twist about them and North stated she is keen on exploring this dichotomy between recycled and high fashion materials further.
Maddie Williams won the Catwalk Textiles Award (judged by Holly Fulton and Jackson Tucker Lynch of the Harris Tweed Authority) with a collection celebrating the female body.
Her handmade textiles were made by juxtaposing natural and synthetic materials such as plastics and PVC with natural fibres. These textiles were then employed to create designs characterised by voluminously exaggerated silhouettes.
Over the course of the week, Maddie was also awarded second place in the Dame Vivienne Westwood Sustainable and Ethical Award, receiving a paid internship with the company.
There were more good news for ECA when it came to the second place in the Catwalk Textile category, scooped by another of their graduates, Frankie Dean, for her colourful designs characterised by abstracted geometric patterns and three-dimensional elements.
The Visionary Knitwear award went instead to Ruth Williams, who created a minimalist collection employing reused tents and giant rubber knitting.
Last but not least, Irene D'Antonio, who won last year the Mackintosh Project Award at ECA, received the Marks & Spencer Womenswear Prize for her collection that blended Italian tailoring with traditional Japanese clothing.
"We are delighted to have had such unprecedented success at Graduate Fashion Week," stated Mal Burkinshaw, ECA Fashion Programme Director, on the college's site. "It will offer students a step into the industry and we have seen a lot of interest in their work already. At Edinburgh College of Art, we are passionate about encouraging students to express their individuality through their collections. I feel very privileged to work with such a creative group of aspiring designers, and am thrilled that they have been recognised in this way."
ECA's Fashion - BA (Hons) programme is the only one of its kind in Scotland that shows its graduates' collections on the Graduate Fashion Week runway. ECA has actually got a history of winning top GFW prizes: in 2015 Melissa Villevieille won a triple award, while last year, Lorn Jean won two awards at the 25th anniversary event, without counting the runner ups and the winners of minor prizes.
Now, while congratulations go to ECA and its lecturers (we had a look at Burkinshaw's own work in a previous post) and students, there is maybe something we should sit and ponder about.
Quite often you read articles on different publications and sites about lists of the best places where you can study fashion. You can easily stumble on top tens about this topic all over the Internet and, when you check them out, you realise that the lists mainly feature prominent institutions in London and New York that often organise their own graduate shows or present their graduates' work during major fashion weeks.
ECA doesn't seem to be featured in many of these lists (not even in the charts of the best 20 colleges and universities), even though for years its students managed to present coherent collections at events such as GFW (as opposed to the very incoherent and bizarre assemblages of clothes seen on the runway at London's CSM after inspiring Professor Louise Wilson died).
The time has maybe come for prominent colleges to stop resting on their laurels, but fashion publications will also have to start looking at other institutions, analysing the works of their graduates. It is worth noting that, while Edinburgh College of Arts scooped all these prizes, the Fashion Photography Award went to Alannah Cooper from another Edinburgh-based institution, Heriott Watt University, which may mean that students considering a career in fashion should maybe head up North, or at least consider less hyped up institutions where they can focus on their work and be nurtured by lecturers who may not be constantly featured on prominent fashion magazines, but who are definitely knowledgeable and talented enough to help them developing their own signature styles.
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