Abandonment is key to Katy’s collection at this year’s Graduate Fashion Week

Abandonment has been something that has piqued University of Northampton student Katy Frost’s interest for a while and this is an obvious influence in her Graduate Fashion Week catwalk collection.

When thinking about what to base her final year project on, Katy, 21, who is from Northampton, started researching stories and case studies on feral children. She saw how something sad could turn into something beautiful when the children were found families and homes to grow up in and this gave her inspiration for her designs.

Katy said: “I started off using a dark pallet of colours, but began to weave more neutral colours in to show the happiness behind the stories so my collection consists of a lot of khaki, navy with a splash of lime green. I particularly like suede as it’s a hardwearing fabric and I’ve been able to make some beautiful things out of it. I discovered that the designing and making of my collection has been a learning curve as it’s hard to know what materials will work and what won’t until you give it a go.

“I looked around a few universities before deciding on the University of Northampton as I liked it the most. I also liked the idea of working with leather so it was a good selling point for me that Northampton has a tannery and you can participate in short courses. It’s a great university for arts and fashion. When I graduate this summer, I am looking to start working in London and am excited to try my hand any everything – from styling to design.”

Graduate Fashion Week takes place from Sunday 5 to Wednesday 8 June at the Truman Brewery in Shoreditch and has been firmly established as the world’s leading event for fashion graduates. The University of Northampton’s catwalk show takes place on Monday 6 June and is in partnership with holistic cosmetic company, Weleda.