First Prize Winner Glen Warren Mafham

 

BA HONS- GRADUATE FROM LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY

CURRENTLY- Junior Menswear Designer After Graduation, EXPLORING THE ETHOS OF THE FASHION INDSUTRY.

CONTEXT: THE LIME CORDIAL

‘My collection focus was based around the word Nocturne, its a vivid trend exploring darkness that each one of us perceives, I wanted to explore with menswear and give it its own diversity the context of Nocturne is NIGHT the vivid tones showing through, nocturne encompasses the acceptance of all forms dark, such as sleep, death and bitterness.  The overall themes of nocturne consists of altered states of the mind, blurring boundaries and experiencing Darker form, holding a context of FUR in fashion, fur a subject that no longer holds a TABOO definition, in acceptance I enjoy what Fur symbolises, the wealth and glamour and also the TABOO HISTORY IT ONCE HELD, as a designer I like to use high defined fabrics and give an impact to an audience and feel it should stand to a TREMBELLA.

My intention with this collection was to take menswear to a new level to take men’s everyday key pieces and turn them into something unwordable  (THE UNKNOWN) I have taken everyday menswear pieces and given them a personal highlight of my Design Mark. The Collection compasses an Image icon focusing on oneself through different outlets to deal with and embrace in life showing the embracement of His Life as a Tale to Be Told. A city embraces a GENT- and makes waves for a dark-dapper man Defined ENGLISH URBANMANS STYLING. This MAN loves nothing more than exploring life after dark. LUXE and URBAN takes With HUES of SKIWEAR and Oversized apparel, playing with subtle colour balance and muted Black and Daring PRINT.

‘I GIVE YOU GENTLEMEN THE NEW MUSE’

Style attitude to the slopes.  Glamour meets grunge “GLUNGE” in a big and bold lineup constructed by bright trims and textures attitude, high shine fabrics including an encrusting of crystals. Passed through a vivid TARTAN with Wordage to Exploit URBAN GENT.

 

 

 

Gabriella Collins – Second Prize Winner

Gabriella is a final year BA (Hons) Fashion student at Plymouth College of Art.

Gabriella designed a fur plate mix jacket of Rex Rabbit, Racoon and Fox fur and a patchwork dress with Raccoon and Sheep fur pieces, with leather stitch work.

‘A mistake made as a child comes with guilt, then the desperation to repair what has been destroyed. As adults, we tend to destroy what we may have repaired with intention, but sometimes unintentionally.

My designs aim to reveal something but equally remain unresolved. By the use of patchwork and different methods of stitching, my designs display small fragments of an overall image, each part revealing multifaceted elements of a story. My inspiration for this stemmed from trying to bring myself into the raw and evolving mind-set of a child; seeing things for the first time and having or not having to make a judgement on them and piece them all together. I feel that today, we are all looking for answers, looking to make a decision on what is right and what is wrong; but what if the answer is both? What if it is none.

With the discovery of old photographs of my Danish ancestors from the 19th Century, opened up the ability to explore my connection to Denmark as well as my disconnection. As a child, I was brought up in England, but visited my family in Denmark regularly. I felt a part of both but felt I did not fully belong to either. When looking at these images; refined and composed portraits, my immediate reaction was to keep them safe and remain as though untouched.

However, with this instinctive desire to keep the old photographs in perfect condition, also opened up my desire to make something of them; to bring something of myself into them. I started to scan them in, tear the copies up and then stitch them all back together with crochet and different stitching techniques. They were no longer perfect, yet though they were displaced they did not look imperfect. I saw that alike with fur and leather, though we may want to keep something in the most perfect condition or use only it’s traditional methods, that imperfection and our connection to what is around us, often displays more raw emotion and true understanding than the preservation that keeps us from standing still.’

 

 

 

Eleanor Cowlard – Third Prize Winner

Eleanor designed Skiwear with a patchworked hexagon design, using a combination of fox furs, and waterproof fabrics for ultimate the ski performance.