When it comes to the future of the fashion industry, look no further than the Central Saint Martins MA Fashion graduate catwalk to find out who will be calling the shots.
It is a path well trodden by industry greats — other MA graduates include Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane and Simone Rocha — and today pathway leader Fabio Piars continues to push the next generation to greatness.
Here, discussing their new collections, are six new names to note now:
Maximilian Raynor
“My collection is called Manor For Heaven. With dishevelled and unravelling tweeds, I take a pair of shears to emblems of elitism and privilege. With glitching ginghams and awkward stripes I present a kooky mash up of the midcentury and the avant garde. My favourite piece is the opening look, called The Faustian Footmen; a chunky-knit effect, stud tasselled crochet dress with silver bell encrusted lace-like feathered wings. It's a fetishistic, militaristic amalgamation of homoeroticism, the queens guardsmen and the hotel bellboy.
I also want to dispel the myth that we designers do it all alone. I worked with two emerging knitwear talents, Cordie Saville Smith and Isabella Egan, to realise the knitwear in my fantasy. With Central Saint Martins BA student milliner Cate Sarci on the wool and patent leather Shako hat and jeweller James Tapner-Evans on the molten metal and re-purposed antique key jewellery.”
Thora Stefansdottir
“I play with the proportions of body parts in a subtle way to create distortion, specifically by examining body parts that women have often wanted to shift or change. By creating tension with fabrics that are soft and relaxed, I am able to play around with shape and form in an exciting way. My graduate collection started with my looking at Icelandic folklore, in particular stories of women shapeshifting. I weave elements of nature, culture, and the human experience into my works as a way of drawing inspiration from the complexity and beauty of the environment I grew up in the north of Iceland. .”
Joyce Bao
“What I want to say is inspired by my experiences as a Chinese American woman dealing with the assumptions and expectations from both cultures as to how to be feminine. I am drawing a lot of references from eastern and western armour, the deterioration and fragility of vintage garments, and Chinese TV shows from my childhood. The collection is made of delicate, wispy fabrication against soft, plushy quilting, and a bright flash of red amidst soft pastels — to visualise the coexistence of delicacy and resilience. Now, I am excited to set up my brand in London!”
Phoebe Pendergast
“The collection emerges from a varied palette of tactile materials including foam, felt, fleece and fabrics that were partly destroyed or falling apart. Vibrant, sugary hues are contrasted with faded, muted counterparts — allowing pops of electric, bubblegum colours to explode atop of fading backdrops. I tried to create ghostly or phantom silhouettes to convey the idea of fading memories. My favourite piece is a tailored bomber jacket inspired by a jacket that I wore religiously throughout my early twenties.”
Joshua Ewusie
"The collection is called You Don’t Fear The Cold. It is a phrase my Grandma would say to my sister when she would go out clubbing in the dead of winter in revealing outfits, but it also refers to cold in a more metaphorical sense, representing the hostility and British attitudes to immigrants and immigrant culture. For the opening looks, I looked at a lot of imagery of when my Grandma migrated from Ghana to London in the early 60’s and by the end, more skin is revealed. There are references to what was worn by women in the peak of the UK Garage scene, too. Coats become accessories showing defiance, a fearless attitude and celebration of cultural identity.”
Dhruv Bandil
“I'm drawing influence from the street culture of the late nineties and subverting it with native Indian subcontinental clothing and drapes. I'm focusing on the Madhya Pradeshi Muria tribe's draped silhouettes specifically, and I've tried to use local clay toy colours and naturally existing stone tones with terracotta hues throughout the collection. My goal now is to establish a different approach that challenges current industrial methods and shows how clothes may embrace novel interpretations of history, culture, and identity.”
