UCA Fashion Students Collaborate for Warehouse Brief

The project was set up by Katy Lassen, a stylist at UCA who has a good relationship with the brand, for BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion & Imaging students. Course leader, Jo Holloway said: “The aim was to showcase Fashion Promotion & Imaging students work. It was a chance for students to look at a professional brief, and see how it is done in the industry.”

Stephanie Powell, Marketing Executive for Warehouse, who liaised with Katy Lassen to set up the project said: “The decision to work with University for the Creative Arts was easy; the University attracts some amazing young talent and we wanted to utilise that. The students from the Fashion Promotion & Imaging course showed a unique understanding of fashion and photography; making their finished works truly thought-provoking.”

The students’ work was displayed at Loading Bay Gallery in Brick Lane last month, as part of the Warestyle event, Fashion Shooters. The event, which was sponsored by Polaroid and Elle magazine, saw students create a lookbook that consisted of photos they had shot with Polaroid cameras. The students also had the chance to shoot with photographer and ex super model, Helena Christensen, and stayed in the Ace Hotel, Shoreditch.

Winning UCA student Andrew Stott, who had members of the public interested in purchasing his work said: “Helena was so nice, talking about the images as we went through them, saying what she liked and thought they were quite good, which was a major compliment. The experience gave me such an insight into how a shoot works. I’d never been around an actual shoot for public use before and it was so cool to see everyone working together to make the images happen.”

Andrew Stott with his installation

Fellow competition winner Sofia Coelho explained her thoughts on the project: “It was an incredible and unbelievable experience. It was great to experience how campaigns come together and be a part of it.”

A handful of the winning Polaroid images will be featured in the Warehouse lookbook campaign and be displayed in Warehouse store windows across the country.

Course leader Jo summed up the experience, saying: “The students performed exceptionally well, above and beyond what was expected. They were in their element when they got the chance to shoot with Helena Christenson. It was a great experience, and something they will always remember.”

Fashion Promotion & Imaging is based on the Epsom campus, and focuses on the practical and professional skills needed to succeed in a fashion based career in promotion and communication. For more information about the course, visit: http://www.ucreative.ac.uk/ba-fashion-promotion-imaging

Article by Hannah Cook