I don't even know how to go about drawing a Pentakaidecagon shape but the symbolism of the shape to the Ravensbourne fashion grads of 2009 means a collective of 15 designers, illustrators and photographers who struck out on their own to exhibit in their own way at a gallery. Sadly, I didn't make it to the four day exhibition of the Pentakaidecagon fashion collective at the Ada Gallery last weekend. So I am reporting on this retrospectively. Still, like I said, their work lives on and the graduates will be carrying their work with them for a while yet. Incidentally, I'm posting this on the night that Ravensbourne got a far more glamourous bit of exposure via the last episode of Mary Portas Queen of Charity Shops on BBC2 tonight (she addresses class alienation by the by…). Ms. Portas had the bright idea of turning charity shops into places where graduates can sell their collections, an idea that is even more eyebrow raising than new shop fixtures.
Anyway, back to the grads. Jojo Ma, a fashion promotion/communication grad is one of the Pentakaidecagon organisers and has been photographing plenty of her fellow classmates' collections…
I love this series of images 'Small Girls in Big Jumpers', most probably inspired by Jojo's own petite size…
Calum Harvey who had a bit of a starring role in the Queen of Charity Shops ep tonight really impressed with his ingenious use of seatbelt material. If he hadn't told me that his mission statement was recycling materials, I wouldn't have picked up on the fact that he had cleverly frayed seatbelts to make harnesses, shoulderpads and coats…
I was gutted that Hannah Taylor didn't win the knitwear award at GFW as I really loved her humorous references to the English love of hunting interpreted through giant, colourful oversized knits, wooly balaclavas with eyes and mouth cut-outs and the pairing of them with plaid trousers. Her jumpers remind me of an Antoine Peters project with an oversized sweatshirt fitting two people in it…. wouldn't mind cosying up with the boyf in one of Taylor's jumper…
Hannah Buswell's collection has a touch of the Cooperative Designs about it, in its use of colour with a bigger focus on traditional knit patterns…I love the combination of intarsia, fair isle and subtly worked in textures…
Laura Yiannakou's digital prints were a mix of squiggles, paint stripes and graph paper plan drawings all combined on synthetic waterproof-type fabrics.
Since my Swash blowout, I've been obsessed with the idea of animals worked into prints and Tiphaine Pigott has done just that with her print/texture ridden collection.
Chloe Nagle did the perfect ovesized blazer…
A student whose work wasn't shown at GFW but Maria Mourgue precise print work in red and royal blue is a visual treat….on the jumpsuit piece especially…
Other collections at the exhibition have been talked up before… Fah Chakshuvej's menswear collection…
Kasia Bishop's beautifu cut-outs // Marie Molterer's printed neoprene
ooh I love Laura Yiannakou!
Love the oversized blazer. Very inspiring as always, thank you 🙂
LOVE Laura Yiannakou’s striped dress on the bottom left of the picture! 🙂
xx
there is something about knitwear that is just so comforting!
and Calum Harvey’s use of seatbelt material is ingenious!
It’s a bit of well deserved publicity I guess but I reckon that most fashion graduates would perhaps want to aim a little higher than an Orpington charity shop as an outlet for their wonderful & arduously crafted designs.
I did catch the last half an hour of Ms. Portas emancipation of the mercantile beast on the humble charity shop, to me she comes across as a truly self-satisfied piece of nastiness.
I personally hope that this will not become the future blueprint of charity shops.
I was however impressed with what I saw from ‘Ravensbourne’ but in some way I doubt that the students would have taken part in this scheme had it not been for TV, cynical moi…you bet!
This is probably inevitable whenever knitwear designers get creative….but several of these are delightful examples of what we Americans like to call “Cosby Sweaters.” Is “Cosby Sweater” a universal term? It seems unlikely, but I don’t know if the Cosby Show was syndicated internationally…though every other English-speaking people calls them “jumpers” anyway.
Haha, they are a bit Cosby. In a fabulous way, though. I wish that last jumpsuit had gotten shown!
I loved the small girls in big jumpers. I wish there were more of them, they were fun to look at.
Oh my gosh, the small girls in big jumpers is so cute!
Wow the Laura Yiannakou items are ahhhmazing. Also love the idea of small girls in big jumpers, cute pics.
xx
I dont think the students chose to support the shop voluntarily.. but i guess its hard to escape from Mary – she seems scary!
It shows that Ravensbourne has produced some of the best young designers and can compete with the likes of LCF CSM and RCA. Over the last 3 years they have won 7 of the top gala awards at GFW!!!
Loving the small girls in big jumpers especially!
Oh, I love this “Small girls in big jumpers” bit. it’s adorable!
THANKS SO MUCH for this post Susie! Happy times.
Diane, Lisa, Isabel and anonymous – thanks so much for the compliments, I haven’t put the whole shoot onto my blog as I didn’t want to give too much away before my whole magazine was finished but do please keep an eye on the blog for an online version as soon as it’s done late July! xx
So fashion!
So inspiring!
I loved the small girls in big jumpers. I wish there were more of them, they were fun to look at.
I love this “Small girls in big jumpers” bit.
Gorgeous design, I lack words to express my excitement and attitude. It’s just fantastic!