The future of fashion – Students get ready to shine at this year’s Graduate Fashion Week

This year’s Graduate Fashion Week will see collections influenced by traditional international costumes, grime music and the negative side of social media when the University of Northampton students take to the catwalk to present their final year work on Tuesday 6 June.

The 15 students from the BA (Hons) Fashion, BA (Hons) Textiles for Fashion and BA (Hons) Footwear and Accessories programmes, have been working on their fashion collections, textile designs, footwear and accessories, using a broad range of traditional and unexpected materials, such as silk, cotton, leather, parachute nylon, bandages and even a duvet!

They now have the opportunity to showcase their collections to the fashion glitterati, including established designers, journalists and bloggers at the University’s catwalk show.

Stephanie Clift, from Milton Keynes, has used canvas, leather and jersey to create her collection after being inspired by the Chinese contemporary artist and activist, Ai WeiWei, who had been imprisoned for his radical artistic works in China. The shape of her pieces represent prison cells and reflect the feeling of being boxed in and being watched at all times.

By taking the negative aspects relating to social media to create her prints, Louise Gunn, from East London, has designed and created a directional and vibrant collection, consisting of shorts and pinafore dresses teamed with mesh tops, fishnet tights and chunky boots to create an urban and sporty look.

Leah Wanjugu, from Maidenhead took her inspiration from grime music and has used leather and jersey material to create her pieces, some of which are based on clothing sometimes banned in public, such as hoodies. She has used an urban theme throughout featuring sophisticated sportswear and leather muzzles.

Polish-born Aleksandra Kukula took inspiration from the traditional folk culture from her home country for her collection to create more contemporary, vibrant print designs. She has used silk and quilting, plus embroidery and applique methods to her work to create a very feminine yet sophisticated look.

Similarly Elena Hristova created a collection based on her Bulgarian heritage with tailored silhouetted pieces made of heavy material such as wool, while Venuka Wickramaarachchi based his pieces around culture in his home country of Sri Lanka by taking its traditional costume and developing it with pleating and layering.

Halima Begum has used the theme of family roots throughout her collection and took inspiration from her parents’ home country of Bangladesh and in particular the Liberation War in the early 1970s. She has created pieces made from cotton drill, bleached fabrics, leather and jersey to produce a more distressed, worn look on some fabrics.

Italian student, Sharon Mensah has woven both her own and other people’s personal experiences of racism, being labelled or oppressed by the majority race within a community. She has incorporated engraving and prints to portray the emotions of how people feel when discussing racial prejudices.

To create the feeling of being weighed down with anxiety or depression, Courtney Allen, from Hertfordshire, has used duvet material to create heavy garments, while Lauren Jones, from Northampton, designed her collection with parachute nylon to instil a military feel to her pieces.

Loren Buckingham, from Bedfordshire, has created a footwear and accessories collection using her own leathers, up cycled materials and an organic cotton digital print based on a the Colony Collapse Disorder and a bee’s way of life, using the patterns of crystallised honey under the microscope and the hexagonal honeycomb conjecture.

Mollie Crabtree, from Northampton, used deconstruction as her main theme and has shown this through the breaking down of her garments, such as a shirt dress with half a waistcoat. Sumaiya Neher, also from Northampton, has manipulated her fabrics by tearing, ripping and fraying her materials to create a collection that represents how she sometimes feels restricted by life.

Having been inspired by an article on the Afghan women’s cycling team in National Geographic magazine, Bethany Martin from Nuneaton, geared her collection to the more athletic customer and has created a collection for both men and women.

Using maths and geometry as a basis, Gemma Stevens, from Essex, researched the work of Greek mathematician Euclid to use within her garments. She has used wool, cotton, neoprene and jersey to reflect his illustrations.

Dr Julie King, Head of Fashion at the University of Northampton, commented: “Our students in the fashion, textiles and footwear subjects have become widely recognised for their skills in craftsmanship, design and manufacture – and most importantly for being ahead of the design curve.

“The University of Northampton has long established links with industry, which develops our students’ industry ready employability skills, and this coupled with live industry projects prepares them for a successful career within the sector.”

Graduates from the University of Northampton are well known and celebrated within the industry.

After approaching luxury leather company Pittards to help with her Graduate Fashion Week 2016 catwalk collection, Alice Chambers impressed the directors so much, she landed a job with the business as a Design and Development Assistant at its offices in Somerset.

Jordan Shields, who also graduated in 2016, has been working at Ted Baker on a graduate placement scheme when he has had the opportunity to experience different roles within the company.

Less than a year after graduating in 2015, Ngoni Chikwenengere has already launched her own brand-new fashion label and took the opportunity to showcase her debut collection at London Fashion Week.

In 2014 Helen Kirkum was awarded the inaugural Cordwainers’ Footwear Student of the Year award and was presented with her prize by luxury shoe designer, Jimmy Choo.

Graduate Fashion Week takes place from Sunday 4 to Wednesday 7 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 Tuesday 6 June at 12:30pm.

Images: Courtney Allen, Bethany Martin and Louise Gunn

Images of all 15 students taking part in the University of Northampton’s catwalk show