CSM BA Fashion Design Group project; Black heels by Office; FDM – Hester Kitchen, Victoria Kwong; Fashion Print – Catherine Gertner, Paula Kim; Fashion Knit – Hye Sun Choi, Gyu Won Do , FCP – Marcella Saads, Derek Ho;
Don’t look at me, I have no idea how I ended up ‘modelling’ (used in the loosest form possible – if I’m a model, a pillow would be one too) either – clearly Gyu was desperate. Remember Gyu, the CSM knitwear student I visited in June? Time flies! I’ve known her since before Foundation and now this is her collaboration project in her Second Year (with BA Fashion Communication, BA Fashion Print & BA Fashion Design students). The inspiration for the pieces was the myriad that is the CSM Charing Cross campus, and a story of a new girl getting lost. This girl, Ariadne, finds a red thread that leads her to a mysterious room and ends up living there for the rest of her life. The ‘red thread’ refers to the colour of the corridor floors. The patterns and prints are based on photomanipulated images of the room (actually exists apparently), notably the carpet, and the ‘face’ of Ariadne.
Usually I find that students’ garments incredibly fragile but the knit, print, and panelling skills on the four outfits were impeccable – sophisticated enough to go straight to market. Being around the team through the fitting, photoshoots, last alterations and the line-up at the final crit I really really got to experience how much work goes into a collection, not to mention team tension and shared responsibilities… They basically created a brand – tags, website, press release, packaging…the whole shebang… in about 5 weeks. Now I want to study again, this time properly.
Disclaimer: there is no mad old lady, living in a room in the CSM Charing Cross building.
