Most Awesome Graduate Fashion Week Report Ever!

Graduate Fashion Week review by Emma Scott, images by Lin Vitali.

Note: The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of RetoxMagazine.com

Graduate Fashion Week

Wow, the first thing I thought when looking at the photos from Graduate Fashion Week 2012. Such a diverse collection of interesting and exciting garments adorned the catwalk to showcase the wonderful talent from fashion students. Colourful, 3D, inventive, innovative, just some of the words to describe this incredible mix of garments, I challenge you to try and pick a favourite!

THEMES

Layer it up!

Chiffon over stiff cotton, prints over block colour, more was well more for these designers. Contrast is key here; mixing bold, clashing prints and building up layers of lightweight fabrics, both of which are equally eye catching and create beautiful silhouettes.

Catch yourself a winning trend with netting

This year's designers have shown us there's more than one way to style netting; these garments are the catch of the day, featuring netting used on a variety of scales. Some chose to play it subtle, choosing to work with white net on white fabric, whilst others made it more of a feature choosing a contrasting colour and larger weave. My personal favourite is the transparent, tear drop netting, which looks fabulous over the deep pink knicker shorts!

Overmatching

Now many of us will remember the days of matching shorts and t-shirts sets, and many of us also would hope those days are behind us! However these brave students have reinvented and breathed new life into this idea, in a slightly more stylish and fashion forward way. The main idea that popped out to me was matching accessories to your clothes, more specifically bags. It was kept simple though the garments featured minimal if any embellishments, with only fabrics and prints matching.

My personal favourite is the robotic style bag paired with an uncomplicated red jumpsuit by Amy Le.

The accordion

These are pleats as you’ve never seen them before, oversized, layered and 3D, I never knew there were so many ways to use and style simple accordion pleats! From large leather dresses resembling a giant handbag, to incredibly intricate works of art, each graduate has taken the idea of a simple technique and made it their own. While others were slightly more ambitious with their ideas, having splays of pleats pouring off the body, I really like the simple approach graduate Yvonne Kwok has taken, creating a cute peplum mini skirt, which features pleated detailing around the waist.

Walking talking works of art

Want an easy way to decorate some boring old white clothes? Take a leaf out of these graduates’ books and make them works of art! Dripping, splattered and watercolour paint adorn these creative pieces, this incredible print work looks as if the garments have each been hand painted like a canvas! The garments themselves are kept fairly simple, high-necked ball gowns, tailored jackets and smart shirts, all given a new life with a splash of paint.

Face to face

Perfect portraiture donned these graduates garments creating a rather 'pop art' feel. The large prints decorated loose shift dresses; each designer displayed their own take on this style, some opting for glamorous and beautiful women for their garments, whilst others were more abstract using varying scales, and bright, 'unrealistic' colours. I love the dress that features its very own hair slides!

The walking skeleton

Bring along an x-ray machine for this trend, as it’s all about showing the body over clothes. Okay so not your actual body, but this fun and playful theme allows you to bring your garments to life, whether that’s by adding hundreds of staring eyes like Talia Golchin, a University Central Lancashire graduate, or turning yourself into a walking skeleton, like this quirky jumpsuit from Christina Walton, it is sure to grab attention! I love the 3D, curvy, feminine shapes displayed over an effortless chiffon dress by Talia Golchin.

Picture perfect

Ever been on holiday and taken a quick snap of the beautiful landscape before you? Well these designers have immortalised theirs into cool and trendy garments. This chic theme mixes gorgeous city scapes and tranquil beach scenes to create lavish and bright printed garments, in which some wouldn’t look out of place at a formal event. The garments are all very wearable and would easily be translatable to high street stores for us all to enjoy!

Fonts

Don't stop at just expressing yourself through your clothing with these garments, grab your pen and write all over them, as the theme from these graduates is fonts. From witty puns, to newspaper style headlines, it's all about displaying printed text in a fun and eye catching way. The outcome is subtle yet still effective and means that a person really needs to study the garments to read what is written on them, allowing them to also see the gorgeous chiffon fabrics and 90's style print work used underneath. Paired with oversized accessories, I feel these graduates’ outfits, have a slightly childlike appearance, as seen from the long socks and cropped shorts from graduate Francesca Quinn. However I really like, from what I see, is a 90's feel to these garments, as the dress and trainers combo reminds me of what I wore as a child!