Browsing the university stands at Graduate Fashion Week is so much fun, I like to scour the stands and pretend I'm a fashion buyer looking for the next big thing, at the same time compiling a mental list of all the collections I'd love to have in my personal wardrobe.
Metallics emerged as a key trend in 2012 graduate collections; my favourite example being Leeds College of Art student Hannah Wakeford's sequin-embellished structural aqua blue leather jacket. Hannah's collection also included pretty delicate sequin prints and a great teal jacket with an embellished collar.
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| Hannah Wakeford's metallic leather jacket |
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| Hannah Wakeford |
Another stand where I spied several gilded collections belonged to Colchester School of Art. Here my eye was caught by Sophie Alice Brown's futuristic collection in mesh and leather fabrics in a colour palette of bronze, silver and yellow gold. There was a fabulous pair of gunmental cropped pants that I'd love a pair of!
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| Sophie Alice Brown |
My stand-out collection of the event had to go to Colchester's Becky Alexander, who presented a psychedelic collection of seperates inspired by the unusual combination of the 1960s and a Christina Rossetti poem. As both a textiles and fashion student, Becky had made all the fabrics herself, giving vintage prints a modern twist with pops of flourescent colour.
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| Becky Alexander |
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| Becky Alexander |
Natalie also picked out this candy-coloured suede studded dress from Amber Aves that had plenty of commercial appeal, love the contrast between the hard studs and soft suede.
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| Amber Aves |
Unfortunately I couldn't find the name of the graduate from Cleveland College of Art and Design who made this distressed denim prom dress with studded shoulders and mesh underlay, on paper it shouldn't really work but in reality it looked fresh and modern.
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| Cleveland College of Art and Design |
I also couldn't find the name of the designer of the below abstract geometric print shirt dress that was displayed on the central George of Asda stand, please claim it if it was you! I loved the intricate geo print snaking over the shirt right up to the collar. The organic-shaped agate pendants accessorised the look beautifully and are bang-on-trend for AW12 (Karl Lagerfeld showed a plethora of gemstones including agate, quartz, amethyst jewellery on the Chanel catwalk).
Emma Rodgers from Carmarnthenshire College's print-based collection looked current and relevant for 2012. I could imagine a number of A-listers modelling her dress shiftdress with train and cutaway waist detail. The painterly prints in a colour palette of autumnal hues were really very beautiful, the overall effect was naturistic, they reminded me a little bit of Alexander McQueen's Origin of the Species collection.
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| Emma Rodgers |
The final graduate I wanted to mention was Ashley Kearns, although I'm not sure which uni she is from (sorry for the shoddy journalism, I was rather over-excited as you may gather). Ashley's silk dresses printed with hand painted blooms and birds very prim and pretty, I'd rather like to own this dress too!
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Ashley Kearns
There's some amazing talent coming out of Britain's universities, don't you think? Which graduates are you liking?
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It's so exciting seeing Graduate collections and seeing the next big thing in British fashion! I love the look of Hannah Wakefield's collection and Ashley Kearns too xxx
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