Leeds
Anna Browning
Daniela Marchetta
Shamin Sulton
Anna Browning
Kate O'bryan Tear
Katrina Lee
Claire Greendale
Faith Bunce
Sophie Broadhurst
A couple of weeks ago the Hebe team headed down to the Graduate Fashion Show by Leeds College of Art. We always love to see new talent emerging and and imagine how they might develop in the future.
Each student was required to showcase three pieces, a mini A/W collection. There were some refreshing elements in many of the students's designs, but for some of the students a lack of coherence was a problem, which is an important factor to think about when building a collection. Some students managed to get this coherence though. I particularly liked Rachael Broadhurst's creations, very feminine, and for my eyes, the most complete collection at the event. Crystal Padmore's way of connecting different materials was skilful. Lauren Crowe made a collection that's trendy right now, using plenty of fringe and leather. I noted down that I liked Sharon Banga's good fabric choices. I also liked Anna Browning's square jacket shape. Faith Bunce's hunting inspired works were very memorable and stood out.
Overall, I do think there's an issue of the students being too aware of what's trendy right now, instead of looking for something that's never seen before. If you can not let loose and do something 'out there' when you are at college, when can you, right?
London
University Of Salford catwalk show. Design by Nicola Bream. Earls Court, London
My good friend and partner on the UK Observing Diary, Chia Wen Liu went to the London Graduate Fashion Week. And this was one of her favorite outfits. She thinks this year's designers were of a good standard, but the event itself seemed to lack some of wow factor of previous years. Perhaps the change in sponsor (River Island to George) and/or a smaller budget had something to do with this?
Chia Wen filmed this video of best and awarded designers this year. An you can see a very noticeable character in the crowd.
Antwerp
And finally, let's take a look at the legendary Royal Academy Academy of Fine Art in Antwerp. You can read more about it at Vice Style.
MANON KUNDIG (Photo courtesy of VICE) 
MANON KUNDIG (Photo courtesy of VICE)
MINJU KIM (Photo courtesy of VICE)