The show I attended was the international catwalk competition, featuring a selection of the top graduate collections from the leading international universities. It was great to see the fashion visions from all over the world, where each collection was diverse yet did not necessarily portray immediate cultural influences.
Graduate Fashion Week is all about showcasing the freshest university talents. The four day event saw over a thousand works from all of the most influential and inspiring universities, where an amazing twenty-two mesmerising catwalk shows unveiled this year’s most exhilarating graduate collections.
Graduate Fashion Week was initiated as a charity event, founded back in 1991 to bridge the gap between education and employment in the fashion industry, which is notoriously renowned for being one of the hardest to get into.
As the lights dimmed and as the models started to make their way down the runway, I quickly tweeted my excitement but then for some strange reason I felt a bit nervous. I guess it was because I had some kind of déjà vu that instantaneously reminded me of my final year of Uni…the sleepless nights, spray painted fingers and broken sewing machine needles which you couldn’t just get from anywhere.
The show was beaming with fashions that encapsulated a huge range of styles, with pieces that had distinctive cuts and silhouettes in lush bespoke fabrics alongside dynamic prints that were simply endearing to the eye. The show presented a nice mix of vibrant colours as well as textures that were floaty and foamy, with pieces entwined with clunky mental pieces.
One designer who I fell in love with instantly for their chic, wearable collection was Sabrina Pilkati who studied at Italian fashion school Academia di Costume E Moda. Italian womenswear and styling usually exudes femininity with eloquent qualities which are all usually bought together with luxe accessory details to achieve that seamless look.
Sabrina Pilkati’s collection has all of those special Italian qualities. I love this collection because all of the pieces you could easily work into your wardrobe. The collection saw pieces in black, cream and red in simplistic cuts that had a stylish twist of fabric manipulation details. The Italians know all about adding luxe components to a look where my favourite styling accessory was the ankle strap stiletto pumps which had a Perspex wedge imprisoning the heel.
I’ve always been a wearable art enthusiast so when Madelen Ljunggren debuted her collection on the runway I was immediately infatuated by the ingenious, artful form of her collection. Ljunggren is from a Norway fashion school Esmod Oslo. The pieces that she sent down the catwalk were uber cool! They were out of this world in pastel peach colours that saw oversized padded coats in futuristic designs with jackets that were cropped with the most incredible fabric manipulated arms. I loved this collection because there was a bit of everything, I was also totally obsessed with the chunky knit polo neck crop top which was then juxtaposed by a plain minimal outwear piece.
Claudio Cutugno who is from IED fashion school reconfirms exactly why I love designer fashion. Fashion is all about the artistry and skills of a designer. Cutugno’s work sees influences of gothic and punk style aesthetics where her entire collection was in black sheer fabric with lace fabrics for intricate details. The layering and tailoring in this collection was impeccable, so much so that you could have easily mistaken it for a Rick Owens or Simona Tagliaferri piece.
If that was not enough for one to take in there was the exhibition too. Graduate Fashion Week is also very much about the exhibition which spanned over two floors featuring fashion marvels from over forty universities. The exhibition was just as visually exciting as the shows with garments, accessories, fabrics and portfolios all on display for you to take your leisurely time in viewing as well as having the opportunity to speak with some of the designers about their ideas, designs and concepts.
As I made my way through the final stands in reality I felt more than satisfied with the fact my fashion school days were well and truly over where you and I can just enjoy the easy part of fashion…the wearing of fabulous pieces.
By Laurren Medford-Stewart at Farfetch
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