graduate fashion

Had a fab time the other week at the RCA fashion show, regular mens and womenswear was ok, but the knitwear was amazing! So bright, cheerful and original.

My favourite collection was Helen Turner's, above, with her fabulous pile fabric garments, looking like beautiful feathers or a massive pom pom. These moved so beautifully as they went down the catwalk.

Ruth Green
Hannah Buswell

Check out my full report on this year's graduates from all the big shows in Issue 20 of Inside Crochet, out in a couple of weeks.

young designers

This evening was the Royal College of Art Textiles MA private view. I hadn't managed to get to any other shows this year, but I always try to go to this one, as it is the course I graduated from five years ago (where does the time go?!)

There is some really lovely work this year. I noticed that there was a strong hand drawn theme, with lots of naive illustration type prints and mixed media pieces. I of course enjoyed this, being a lover of a strong line drawing and it also meant that much work had a one-off, obviously non mass-produced quality. Keeping to this theme, my stand out favourite of the whole RCA grad show wasn't a textiles designer but a communications student. Haruka Shinji's work has a strong humourous aspect and truly beautifully executed drawings and cut out pieces.

I also noted that almost every student had a blog or website, almost unheard of in my day all those many moons ago. It is great for the graduates to have such a space to showcase their work, and a true sign of the internet age. It also means I can share my favourite textiles students much more fully with you, as you can check out their sites.

Tiffany Ong entitled her display Entomological Knits, and displayed lots of brightly coloured knitted samples like specimens or moths in wooden frames. This lent a very traditional feel to her contemporary work, a juxtaposition I cannot resist.

Wendy Marchbanks calls herself a printed textiles designer and illustrator, and her love of drawing is shown in her beautiful printed wallpapers (left).

Finally Rebecca Lucraft is a mixed media graduate who had a stunning space filled with golden coated bird cages and fairy tale trees housing laser cut wooden birds and monkeys. Her shapes, colours and drawing are beautifully naive and magical.

The show is on until the 5th July, so if you are in the area get in and see the work, it is free admission and well worth a look. There are some very promising designers of the future here.