The best of graduate fashion 2013!

Before I even begin this post I feel I should explain that by 'best' graduates I just mean a few of my favourites. There are a ridiculous amount of incredibly talented graduates and so many amazing shows that it's pretty impossible to write about all of them. 

So I've just picked four that stood out to me (the majority of which are textile or knitwear based). Seriously, the amount of incredible textiles, print and illustration around this year was insaaaane!!

(All images from WGSN)

Chen-Yu Wang

Although I didn't actually get to see the Ravensbourne catwalk (a huge regret of mine now), I only had to browse all the photos afterwards to realise what a strong class they had. In fact, the majority of my favourite collections were Ravensbourne graduates, and in terms of textiles and print they were definitely well up there as one of the strongest universities. My ultimate fave however was Chen-yu Wang. I absolutely fell in love with her knitted 'eye-ball' jumper- in fact I've barely been able to get it out of my mind since I first saw it... The whole collection is wonderfully playful and imaginative, but I actually think one of the reasons I love it so much is because I actually find it to be quite sinister at the same time. There's something about her pieces that makes me feel quite uncomfortable, but somehow that just makes me want to wear them even more..

Leanne Warren

Another Ravensbourne graduate, Leanne's illustrations and prints inspired by religious iconography were absolutely breathtaking! It makes me wish I'd included more of my illustrations and print into my own collection, but I guess that's always something I can do more of in the future... For now though I'm just going to continue to sit back and admire hers, and carry on wishing that cropped t-shirt was in my wardobe...

Cassandra Verity Green

There were a number of CSM collections that caught my eye this year however, Cassandra Verity Green's was the only one that really took my breath away- the cascades of  pastel "seaweed" combined with the transparent cut-outs and multi-coloured ruffles were beautiful as were her cropped leggings layered underneath. I also fell in love with her little gold-fish bowl backpacks, although I'm not convinced the fish would have had such a great time, but I guess it got people talking....

Hannah Williams

I think it was originally the use of colour that attracted me to Hannah William's collection- it had such a surreal feel to it that after only seeing a couple of photos at GFW as soon as I got home the first thing I did was google the rest of it- and I am so glad I did! It's not until you examine the pieces close up that you notice exactly what it is that makes this collection so special. By cleverly moulding silicone (I'm not exactly sure how, but I sure as hell would like to know), she created garments with the illusion of chunky oversized zips, seams, pockets and layers of beaded jewellery. I can only imagine the other possibilities she can go on to achieve with this technique, and as the winner of the womenswear award I can hardly wait to see what else she gets up to in the future!

There were so much incredible graduate work this year, I only wish I'd had more time to browse through everyone's portfolios. The ones I did get to look through however were incredible- I especially loved Grace Cook (from De Montford)- I made a direct beeline for her knitwear as I was snooping around, and it's only made me want to study knitwear more!

For now though I'll leave you with some Zion. T (thankyouuuuu eatyourkimchi)

Hannah xx