>> The Central Saint Martins MA class of 2010 have been quietly racking up accolades and achievements here and there, dotting around designers quietly and strategically in our sight path – Thomas Tait as Dorchester Prize winner, Simone Rocha as part of the Fashion East line up, J JS Lee part of New Gen, Felipe Rojas Llanos in MAN and people like Lily Heine and Matthew Harding reproducing pieces from their graduate collection for Topshop. What seemed like a less obviously-impactful CSM MA show has turned around to produce designers that had ultra laser-sharp focus honed into their work (whipped into shape by Louise Wilson no doubt…). Adam Andrascik, who actually hails from Pittsburgh (take the term 'British' designers with a pinch of salt…) was inspired by the Salvador Dali and Elsa Schiaparelli 'Tear Dress' for his graduate collection which as per many CSM graduates makes for a seamless continuation onto his S/S 11, his first collection out of uni. So purposeful and graphic line-creating rips and tears grace dresses, shifts and separates with the negative spaces of the tears almost as important as the rips themselves. Seeing Andrascik's work in person, beyond the obvious visual factor of the tears that add unexpected structure to the pieces, it's his fabric work that really elevates everything. It's hard not to be reminded of a certain dress from the Jil Sander S/S 10 collection but dare I say, the deft placement of the rips and the 'peeling-away' effect of fabrics somehow takes the idea further and for Andrascik seems to be a good starting point to stand amongst his fellow classmates of other minimal/maximal aestheticians…
Tear It Up
