Amelia’s Magazine | University of Central Lancashire: Graduate Fashion Week 2012 Catwalk Review

Hayley Harrison GFW 2012 UCLan by Alice Hair

Hayley Harrison by Alice Hair

Before attending my first Graduate Fashion Week show, I had a little look around the stands to see what would jump out at me without the glitz and glamour of the catwalk. University of Central Lancashire immediately got my attention thanks to full-sized toiles of Xiaoping (Fiona) Hwangs intricately pleated clothing on display. I chatted with UCLan lecturer Kate Ball, who gave me her tips of who to look out for on the catwalk. Xiaoping was on her list, as well as Claire Acton‘s hair-inspired silhouettes with oversized perspex hair clips, Talia Golchin who created silhouettes based on old Victorian brothel imagery and Emma Guilfoyle who experimented with large-scale prints of John Major. “It all sounds a bit mad but it’s done in a really innovative way,” assured Kate, and after flipping through student portfolios and seeing amazing use of colour, pattern and a healthy dose of illustration (always good) I was ready for the catwalk show.

Claire Acton

Claire Acton GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum
Claire Acton GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum

Claire Acton opened the show with, well exactly what lecturer Kate Ball described, but much better than I imagined. Fun ideas are great, but fun ideas produced to this standard are amazing. Fabric was turned into strong graphic lines by clever strips cut to look like hair, pinned out of the way of the printed faces peeking underneath. Young, exciting and colourful, Claire was a perfect choice to open the show with, and the use of perspex accessories (which seemed to be everywhere this graduate fashion week) was spot-on. Claire has already been raved about in the press for her impressive collection, as well as a runner-up for the Gold Award. I’m expecting we’ll see more of her brilliantly executed work soon.

Talia Golchin

Talia Golchin GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum
Talia Golchin GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum

For Talia’s collection curvy, illustrated female figures balanced on top of oversized masculine boiler suits or floaty dresses printed with lips and moustaches. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but I could appreciate the strength of the concept here: much like something a Vivienne Westwood or Masion Martin Margiela in-the-making would do, it was bold wearable art that challenged what you would expect to see on a catwalk.

Hayley Harrison

Hayley Harrison GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum

Hayley Harrison‘s collection was full of loud, eye-popping colour, but done in an exceptionally smart way. Strong lines, crisp structured white shirts and plastic draped as if it was silk made me want to look, look, and look again at her workmanship. Lecturer Kate Ball summed up this year’s graduates by commenting on how much they all experimented with surface pattern and print, which was evident in the hazy polka-dot neon pattern used for this collection.

Hayley Harrison GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum
Hayley Harrison GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum

I love polka dots- japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, the ‘Princess of Polka Dots‘ uses them in everything, (and has recently collaborated with Louis Vuitton) and while using so many variations in one look could be over-crowded, Hayley Harrison added just enough to each outfit.

Emma Guifoyle

Emma Guilfoyle GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum

Thatcher-ite style seems to be in big favour recently, and graduate Emma Guilfoyle took it to an incredible level with conceptual fashion. The illustrative John Major print made an appearance with an Andy Warhol-like punch, framed by extended version of 80′s power shoulders. Emma made it beautiful with excellent colour combinations such as mint and white or pink and brown tweed sections, adding little touches such as iridescent pailettes or rosettes emblazoned with ‘Vote!’. I also like that she included a matching bag – a massive part of any female politician’s trademark look.

GFW collection by Emma Guilfoyle
Graduate collection by Emma Guilfoyle

Emma Guilfoyle GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum
Emma Guilfoyle GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum

Steph Cunningham

Steph Cunningham GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum
Steph Cunningham GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum

Trompe l’oeil digital prints with a hint of 90′s Versace: Steph Cunningham hit the mark with patterned suits, dresses and separates in an array of rich colours. I loved the gilded frame print used as an edging to the bottom and waist of a skirt or as the lapels on a coat (reminiscent of Mary Katrantzou), as well as the jumble of images that reminded me of a tapestry, echoing the feminine silhouettes perfectly.

Graduate Collection by Steph Cunningham
Graduate Collection by Steph Cunningham
Graduate Collection by Steph Cunningham

Xiaoping (Fiona) Huang
For each graduate’s work I saw, I would put a star next to my notes against a few who really impressed me, and Xiaoping Huang was definitely one of them. Already intrigued by the toiles on the UCLan stand and the heads up from a lecturer, I was not prepared for the incredible collection about to come down the catwalk. Incredible – and I mean incredible as Xiaoping has since been awarded the Zandra Rhodes Textiles award for her work – variations of accordion pleats in a ton of primary colours came bounding down the catwalk. Models changed from stiff structures to delicately shrouded forms in Issey Miyake-like softly pleated silks, then to bouncing, walking, jack-in-the boxes.

Xiaoping (Fiona) Huang GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum
Xiaoping (Fiona) Huang GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum
Xiaoping (Fiona) Huang GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum

It was like Xiaoping Huang wasn’t just designing, she was playing with her skills, visually exploring the ways she could stretch her abilities. There was so much to see, and so many details that you could spend forever pouring over. Lecturer Kate Ball told me that Xiaoping is even involved in creating a set of ‘shrinkable furniture‘ and I began to see correlations between her work and Hussein Chalayan‘s famous collapsable, wearable furniture collections.

Graduate Collection by Xiaoping Huang

Seeing how successfully this collection turned out from looking over a teaser toile at the UCLan stand was the perfect end to the show. I cannot wait to see more from Xiaoping Huang, as well as the other graduates from such a talented group. Look out fashion world, there are some super-designers in waiting.

Xiaoping (Fiona) Huang GFW 2012 UCLan by Alia Gargum

Categories ,90s, ,Alice Hair, ,Andy Warhol, ,Claire Acton, ,Earls Court, ,Emma Guilfoyle, ,Gold Award, ,Graduate Fashion Week, ,Hayley Harrison, ,illustration, ,Issey Miyake, ,John Major, ,Kate Ball, ,Louis Vuitton, ,Maison Martin Margiela, ,Mary Kantrantzou, ,shrinkable furniture, ,Steph Cunningham, ,Talia Golchin, ,Textile Award, ,University of Central Lancashire, ,Versace, ,Vivienne Westwood, ,Xiaoping Huang, ,Yayoi Kusama, ,Zandra Rhodes

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Amelia’s Magazine | Maison Martin Margiela 20 at Somerset House


Illustration by Donna McKenzie

Regular readers of Amelia’s Magazine will know that we covered the Maison Martin Margiela 20 exhibition last March, when it showed in fashion capital Antwerp.

But, since it’s moved to our very own fashion capital, we thought we’d have another look, and get some of our wonderful illustrators involved!

Somerset House is quickly becoming a fashion hot spot, with the rehoming of London Fashion Week and the recent SHOWstudio sessions. It’s clear why, too – it’s bloody beautiful.

This is the third outing for the Maison Martin Margiela exhibition, after seasons in Antwerp and Munich, so actually it’s the label’s 22nd anniversary this year, but who cares? I’ll use any excuse to have a poke around a fashion archive.


Illustration by Louise McLennan

The exhibition, set in Somerset House’s lower galleries and you’d be forgiven for believing, if this building wasn’t centuries old, that the space had been purpose-built for this nostalgic trip down Margiela memory lane.

All but a couple of the rooms are white-washed in typical Margiela fashion, and while the exhibition allows us to explore the history of this conceptual and inspirational label, it still give nothing away about the elusive man himself.


Illustration by Amy Martino

Instead of being a chronological or nostalgic display, the aim of this exhbition is to explore the key themes of Maison Martin Margiela, including the inspiration behind each collection and the techniques used.

So it is the quirks that have made this brand truly unique that are given most attention. We begin with a look at the anniversary catwalk show, amongst a lot of polystyrene models, whilst mooching along a row of rather battered Tabi shoes.


Illustration by Donna McKenzie

The bulk of the exhibition explores varying collections and what made them stand out alongside so many other fashion designers of the time. Flat-pack clothing, XXXL oversized pieces, painted garments, narrow tailoring, the trench coat, and the re-visioning of old garments. We also see the evolution of Margiela’s elusivity – first it was a slash of paint across a model’s face, then a blindfold, and then the infamous sunglasses (which I was so tempted to lift I had to walk around with my hands in my pockets. Damn I wish I’d bought them – what a collector’s item).


Illustration by Farzeen Jabbar

One room is devoted to archive footage, film and photographs from across the collections – the room is dark and has white lounge chairs for you to kick back and revel in some of the most iconic fashion images of the last two decades.


Illustration by Zarina Liew

Whether you like fashion or not, I’m entirely convinced that you will love this exhibition – it breaks the boundaries of typical gallery design and it is incredibly inspirational – Go See It!

You can read a full review of the Antwerp exhibition (which was exactly the same exhibition, I promise) here.

For the all important details, visit our listings section.



Categories ,Amy Martino, ,antwerp, ,Birthday, ,catwalk, ,Donna McKenzie, ,Elusive, ,london, ,London Fashion Week, ,Louise McLennan, ,Maison Martin Margiela, ,Munich, ,Polystyrene, ,Showstudio, ,Somerset House, ,Tabi shoe, ,XXXL, ,Yellowbirdmachine, ,Zarina Liew

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Amelia’s Magazine | Paris Fashion Week A/W 2010 Catwalk Round Up

What’s the concept behind Arae? The inspiration behind arae is hard to explain. For this exhibition it was the seventies, capsule Amira Fritz, the Australian label ‘Romance Was Born’. In general it was trying to create exhibitions based on working together as opposed to using money to show work.

How does this year’s Arae exhibition compare to last years? Last year was fashion only- it featured three of the same designers as this year and the wonderful Florencia Kozuch. It was very dark- we blocked out the windows and chose a dark space. Each time it’s meant to be quite sensory so there was an eerie soundtrack but this time there is no soundtrack.

How will you be transforming the exhibition space for Arae? We want to change the space from a bright clean room to something garish. We are trying to build a waterfall of acid coloured flowers. KengKeng Watt has been helping to build this. I want it to feel quite random.

What kind of work can we expect to see? There are photographs, illustrations and installations as well as a fashion piece. It’s pretty mixed and disjointed and deliberately so. I wanted it to be a strange selection somehow. We even have a short film from Katrina Choy.

How did you go about selecting the exhibiting artists? Some people through other projects like Sara Bro-Jergensen and Louise Larsen. Some are my friends and some I found through their websites like Tian Wang whose work I just really liked. Her prints really inspired me so I emailed her.

Aside from Arae, what other exhibitions have you curated and are there any more in the pipeline? Well Arae is my first foray into exhibitions. It’s a learning curve. I will do another one in September in a bigger space with an entirely new concept. Something totally different again. I really like combining live music with the artwork so I want to build on that. I would like to take it abroad eventually and tour.

For more infomation on the Arae exhibition, click here
What’s the concept behind Arae? The inspiration behind arae is hard to explain. For this exhibition it was the seventies, more about Amira Fritz, medicine the Australian label ‘Romance Was Born’. In general it was trying to create exhibitions based on working together as opposed to using money to show work.

How does this year’s Arae exhibition compare to last years? Last year was fashion only- it featured three of the same designers as this year and the wonderful Florencia Kozuch. It was very dark- we blocked out the windows and chose a dark space. Each time it’s meant to be quite sensory so there was an eerie soundtrack but this time there is no soundtrack.

How will you be transforming the exhibition space for Arae? We want to change the space from a bright clean room to something garish. We are trying to build a waterfall of acid coloured flowers. KengKeng Watt has been helping to build this. I want it to feel quite random.

What kind of work can we expect to see? There are photographs, illustrations and installations as well as a fashion piece. It’s pretty mixed and disjointed and deliberately so. I wanted it to be a strange selection somehow. We even have a short film from Katrina Choy.

How did you go about selecting the exhibiting artists? Some people through other projects like Sara Bro-Jergensen and Louise Larsen. Some are my friends and some I found through their websites like Tian Wang whose work I just really liked. Her prints really inspired me so I emailed her.

Aside from Arae, what other exhibitions have you curated and are there any more in the pipeline? Well Arae is my first foray into exhibitions. It’s a learning curve. I will do another one in September in a bigger space with an entirely new concept. Something totally different again. I really like combining live music with the artwork so I want to build on that. I would like to take it abroad eventually and tour.

For more infomation on the Arae exhibition, click here

After climbing what seemed like a trillion rickety flights of stairs at the grand, information pills historic, page Lycee Henri IV to reach the Manish Arora show, the dusty old library in which I found myself was at paradox with Manish’s glorious technicolour visual assault on the eyeballs.

After the entire room was collectively told to, “shut the hell up!” by the photographers pit (Parisian ones are infinitely more aggressive than London ones, with snappers thinking nothing of hollering obscenities at the expectant mob) we were treated to sequins, jewelled embellishment and beadwork all in eye-popping hues looked distinctly futuristic offset with acid coloured, angular cut bob wigs.

A bizarre finale featured what appeared to be headphones with rotating fibre-optic tendrils (which reminded me of those 80s Christmas trees) and I pitied the poor model whose were falling off as she tenuously struggled to hold them on.

The opening look of the Balmain show screamed one thing to me: Marc Bolan. The big shaggy purple coat, dandyish blouson and tight leather pants spoke pure 70s glam-rock and what followed read as something of an homage to the sleazy, louche and decadent era.


Balmain Illustration by Christopher Morris

Paisley brocade suiting, tight, tight leopard print, and oodles of gold lame and leather. The boulder shoulders that we know so well popped up a couple of times, but the silhouette that Decarnin is sticking to the most is his ultra-short, long-sleeved micro-dress. Nothing revolutionary here, except a well executed, inspired theme as per usual.

If show invites hint of things to come, then Bernhard Willhelm’s package of six neon, erotic postcards nailed the agenda for his installation-cum-presentation. One part art show, two parts fashion show, absolutely all freak show, the scene resembled something I can only describe as a cyber-Geisha gymnasium.

Models wore pick-up-stick mohicans, wielded baguette pugil-sticks, plantpot dumbells and trickled mutlicoloured gel from teapots over towers of champagne flutes. Sexual voyeurs (moi included) rubbernecked to get a glimpse of a duo rolling around, dry-humping and 69ing with wanton abandon (trashing the set in the process). Once the girl removed her head from the guys crotch I realised it was my friend Marie – gotta love her balls – or rather, the guys whom she had her face in.

The clothes were pretty secondary to the madness, but as usual, humour took a central role embodied by the repeated phallic motifs. Geisha themes and Japanese symbolism were prominent and I loved the stacked heel shoes in collaboration with Camper.

Viktor and Rolf created their very own Russian Dolls from Maggie Rizer and Kristen McMenamy for their performance art show. The design duo took to the catwalk themselves and curiously peeled away multiple clothing layers, proceeding to dress the models (each channelling a sniper vibe with leather baseball caps and round-framed sunglasses) before they took to the catwalk.


Viktor & Rolf Illustration by Christopher Morris

Beginning with an Eskimo-style coat large enough to smuggle a whole innuit tribe, this gradually revealed cartoonish, oversized proportions; giant capes, tweed – both actual and digitally printed, all in varying shades of black, charcoal, pewter and gun metal. I found the seemingly gratuitous abundance of fur quite sickening. The collection was entitled, Glamour Factory, though I did wonder whether it could be dubbed Animal Factory – or indeed, Slaughter House…

Since the elusive Martin Margiela made a sneaky exit from his eponymous label two seasons ago, his absence was palpable with collections that seemed little more than poor parody’s of a Greatest Hits Collection. This time round, even with no creative director at the helm of the label, Maison Martin Margiela presented a serious return-to-form avant-garde show.

Sheer, bilious trousers cascaded over his trademark sloppy bucket-esque boots, the most unique and prevailing silhouette was that of bizarre column skirts and trousers whose waistlines seemingly hovered around the body. Contrasting textures juxtaposed interestingly; rubber/PVC turtle necks with fine-knit cardi’s and velvet with leather. Giant cable knit jumpers appeared as if they’d been knitted with rope. The closing few looks made me splutter; had the models climbed inside a yeti hide?

Ellen Grace Jones is founder of The Real Runway.

Categories ,80s Christmas Trees, ,A/W 2010, ,Balmain, ,Bernard Willheim, ,Geisha, ,Innuit chic, ,Lycee Henri IV, ,Maison Martin Margiela, ,Marc Bolan, ,Martin Margiela, ,paris, ,Paris Fashion Week, ,Viktor & Rolf

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Amelia’s Magazine | Graduate Fashion Week 2010: Manchester

Rebecca Thompson’s exquisite stitching played with long hemlines, viagra order structured trousers and outsized neckerchiefs in this elegantly minimal collection consisting only of grey and white.

Knitwear had a strong presence in Harriet Gould’s combination of Sonia Rykel hair and Margret Howell esque shoes. It’s a relief to see model’s striding down the catwalk in a beautiful array of flats from Brogues to Desert Boots rather than 7 inch ankle breakers.

Flat shoes courtsey of Chloe Lennox and Emma Murphy:

Live catwalk Illustration by Lauren Macaulay

Millie Betito presented a dark gothic collection, pleats and folds added volume to the traditional shapes of A-Line Skirts and Smock Dresses.

Is that a Masion Martin Margiela inspiration I spy? Shoes under or as part of tights?

Rebecca Nearly exquisite menswear collection drew attention to why it is developing a presence on the catwalks once more.

Stylish practicality with the bags echoing the colour palatte and fabric choice of the clothes.


Illustration by Rob Wallace

Poppy Warwicker – Le Breton’s collection came complete with Maison Martin Margiela inspired sleeve dresses. The designer started with simple shift dresses, building up the motif of hands cut from the chiffon until it adorned the dress entirely.

Illustration by Naomi Law

The pieces played with volume and weight, from the models adorned with sleeves:

…to the models cocooned in wool.

Photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft

Categories ,Chloe Lennox, ,Earls Court, ,Emma Murphy, ,GFW, ,Graduate Fashion Week 2010, ,Harriet Gould, ,knitwear, ,Maison Martin Margiela, ,manchester, ,Margret Howell, ,Millie Betito, ,Poppy Warwicker – Le Breton, ,Rebecca Nearly, ,Rebecca Thompson

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