Graduate Fashion Week June 2010 – UCA Epsom

UCA Epsom

The UCA Epsom show was a popular one with the queue reaching the back of the theatre and the press being allocated seats six rows back, shocking! This popularity was a good sign, at least after queuing for half an hour we knew it was going to be good.

Claire Zeng

The lights are lowered for the first piece in this collection and a glow in the dark panel meekly shines through the gloom. The rest of the collection is clinical and stark, with sharp lines and white, grey and blue garments. Sheer plastic panels added sneaky fleshy views as the shapeless garments hung off the models. This year the students seem to be desperate to follow trends and this collection was no different with the trendy cape in PVC and laser cut elements. This collection aimed to be clinical, simple and sharp and succeeded.

Joanne Levine

This collection pivotted around high school cliques with oversized jock jackets in high shine material. Also on the catwalk was an oversized hoody dress featuring metalic flashes on the elbow teamed with white converse. Structured shoulders and sleeves were added to the other wise classic shapes. A clear rain mac with geometric angles was worn over a pillar box red embellished dress.

It seemed a mish mash of materials and colours fitted to the high school theme with obvious cliques and then contrasting unknowns.

Antonia Lloyd

The first menswear collection of the show gives us sparkly bibs, short ankle skimming trousers and a sheer polo shirt. This collection was an interesting take on traditional menswear, keeping the classic shapes but adding a contempory touch with metalics and leather shorts. One shirt has a petalled lapel, a nod to the petalling trend. Leather elements seem to be an incredibly popular trend this year and came across subtly in this collection.

Lisa Homewood

This collection is amazing. It has so many different contempory elements such as structuring, metalics, flashing sunglasses and lights attached to the belt of one model. This is mixed with 1950’s music, shiny gold buttons and girly silohuettes. Prints include : Houndstooth, gingham, nautical blue and red pinstripes and many checks. Shape hugging pencil skirts with exaggerated hips and cinched waists give this collection a futuristic fememine feel. This collection brings together the past and the future perfectly and the two some how seem to go hand in hand.

Laura Clark

Power suits are the way to go! Another military themed collection that puts women into the role of men in the WW2 era. A beautiful pleated grey skirt and crisp white shirt give way to flowing utility jump suit and a fur trimmed jacket complete with muff. This collection is sophisticated and classy.

Katie Barret

Another menswear collection but completely different to the first. The music is bagpipes so we expect kilts, but instead are greeted with earthy brown knits. The wool trousers are ingeniously attached to pleated skirts, in a kilt like way… but not quite. Huge rolls of ragged woollen scarves adorn the models necks and wrists. This collection still holds true to many trends, using leather, origami style pleats and tie dye and deconstruction elements such as holes scattered along the side of a sleeveless t-shirt. Theres a sense of the original warrior man in this collection with the bare chests and deconstruction seeming tribal and untouched.

Lucinda Ailes

This collection was based around the American flag with flashes of white stars on blue and white and red striped tights. This theme is adapted to fit an on trend cape and khaki knit. This collection is styled wonderfully with white cowboy boots and sheriff badge brooches to hammer home the US of A theme!

Alice Driver

Another very military collection but with no femininity about it. The accentuated manly shapes including padded sharp shoulders give the slender models a chunkier more severe outline and create androgyny. Subtle metal studs and rouching scatter the collection adding opulence and giving the impression of a band of toughened war criminals! Overall a very well styled and consistent collection.

Olivia Coski

Driver creates a strong urban male. Dark earthy knits and oversized macs give this collection a totally trendy and fashionable side but garments such as a acid wash jumpsuit remind us of the gritty working male. Underneath the jumpsuit is a crisp white shirt and tie, mixing urban with clinical. This collection offers us another contender for the knitwear award with folded pedalling detail along cardican sleeves and a huge ruff scarf.

Beata Gebka

What looks like a troop of original quakers appear on the catwalk, subtle contempory details are noticeable such as strong pleats, sheer fabrics and a cape, there were also cigarette pants and bunched sack like waistlines that are sure to be seen this AW. This collection is somewhere inbetween a nuns habit and the traditional basic clothing of the Amish society. This puritanical collection was stunning, so fresh and quiet and not pretentious or outlandish at all.

Anna Piercey

The letter A storms onto the catwalk to bouncy childish French music. Every garment encorporates a letter of the alphabet is block primary colours and cubist influences. Embellished structured shoulders atop a nude maxi dress make an ‘M’ with red sleeves and adeep V neck line. This collection amuses most, especially when the letters rearrange themselves to spell out the word RANDOM at the end of the catwalk. This is an odd concept but some how it works, although it hasn’t got some of the more recognised trends this is funky and cute.

Victoria Geaney

A modern take on the traditional lederhosen this collection is playful and fun. This collection manages to be boyish whilst maintaining girly impishness. Primary colours break up the natural mustards and brick red as do sharp whites. A cardigan featuring long tasselled sleeves has a piping pattern that is quintessential Bavarian traditional dress. (Bavaria, Germany is near the Austrian border and this is where lederhosen are said to have come from.)

A trend emerging is the mixture of women in classic gents clothing and we see this here with a white adapted tail coat and a mans shirt dress. Another great collection from UCA Epsom!

William Hamel

The only male designer in the show, this menswear uses photographic print tshirts and white everything else! White jeans sport dropped crotches and horizontal zips, whilst jackets have huge puffed shoulders – the dropped crotches were originally popular in Japan and have now filtered through into the UK and are now the harem for men! This is another very clinical collection playing with structure and siloheutte rather than pattern and embellishment.

Miho Chico

Primary colours and simple shapes mix with sheer fabrics in this catwalk show. There are many elements of young boys clothing such as oversized patterned jumpers, little shorts and colourful socks. This is mixed with the adventurous, coloured shapes for a slightly Aztec feel!

Alice Halliday

Classical singing fills the auditorium and the show begins. This collection, like the music is highly religious. The garments feature crucifixes and rosaries, embellished and glimmering. There is a slightly futuristic edge to this religious theme with sparkles and weird head gear that surrounds the face like a gill. The embellishment goes further than just the added jewellery and crucifixes, a dress bears a diamante cross pattern all across the front of it. This collection was very obviously themed and came across well as a statement.

Stency Kidega

This collection was all about pilots and styled with reflective aviators. Models were dressed in dapper looking power suits with over the top pleated ruffles at the shoulders and sleeves having a peacock effect as the pleats fan out around them. The tones were all muted greys – this was quite severe but still worked with the aviation theme.

Kirsty Draper

This collection played with primary colours, using gingham again with multi coloured beading and embellishment. The models shoes were even embellished and at one point the jewelled laces caused quite a problem for one of the models! The knitwear was innovative and different but very garish and more to stand out than to fit in with high street trends.

Carla Knight

Carla Knight was another menswear designer, choosing to deconstruct and make the production process part of the collection with contrasting white tacking stitches on the sleeves and a pattern draw on the front of one of the jackets. She also played with deconstruction and slashed many of the gaments. This was another strong collection from UCA.

Eve McDonald

This collection was another playful one. There were many key trends in the collection including : Denim and denim, ditzy florals, under wear outer wear, lace, primary colours, capes and 50’s cinched waists emphasizing the womanly figure. This exciting collection had elements of a farmgirl chic theme that really stood out amongst the collections as trend forward.

Harriet Goddings

Harriet’s collection was all about silhouette with angular lines and brace like straps hanging from the garments. This collection joined the structural trend but was doing something completely unique with straps and strips hanging from the garments, sticking out and reattaching them selfs like bionic fabric tubing. A great end to a fantastic catwalk show.

UCA Epsom put on a fantastic show with many of the catwalks being based around countries, their traditions and their cultures. It was an insightful set of collections for the university to be proud off.