So, the show last night went really well. Everyone I spoke to seemed to have a great time and enjoyed the collection(s).
I had no idea what to expect since the designers themselves and Olaf are the only people who'veÌýbeen able to see the collections as they were being worked on. The final collections looked amazing though. There were a few occasions when a dress came onto the catwalk and a chorus of women in the room whispered "I'd wear that". Although it's important to create some show-stoppers, I think it's also important to feature pieces women instantly fall in love with and want to wear.
The Blast show last night at London Fashion Week
There was lots of imaginative use of materials too. From bamboo to hair (not human I hope)
I would've loved to see some menswear, but I don't think you needed to be a girl to enjoy some of the creations showcased last night.
More pics on their way shortly...
Navina from Cambridge has made a really lovely collection based on Ceramics.... Her collection is based on beautifully hand-painted fabrics which are then made into simple, almost architectural shapes... well that was the idea anyway but it's always a bit of a "moment of truth" to see how the fabrics actually work. There are a few slight issues to sort out but overall I think they work really well...
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she's used bleach, gold paint and black dye to create this dress:
Navina's hand painted black and gold dress
...and fabric paints mixed with water to create the "watercolour" effect on this one:
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navina's ceramics inspired watercolour dress
ÌýI think they look great.
It's been an interesting few days, the designers have all been busy finishing their collections and in some cases making radical last-minute changes.
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Had a session with Kirie-Lea to look over her outfits and we both agreed that there was one which just wasn't working. It was ok as an outfit on it's own but as part of the collection as a whole. The other big issue was that there was hardly any fabric left! In the end we decided to keep the "shell" of the dress but to lose all the additions (which left us with a very simple shift). To tie it in with the rest of the collection we decided to gather up all the scraps and off cuts and use the biggest bits to create a sort of heavily pleated skirt and sleeves. I hope it works. These are a couple of the other outfits she's been working on. I love the exaggerated collars...
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Kirie-Lea's blouse
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The rest of Kirie-Lea's Japan themed collection is pretty much done and just needs pressing and trimming. I really hope that the re-worked outfit works as well as these two.
The show date's approaching alarmingly quickly, I've had quite a few e-mails and calls from the designers with last minute problems or changes to their collections.
Ally from Milton Keynes is working on a Medieval & Renaissance collection and had designed a really interesting "tiled" skirt to go with a great big bow on top but she's wondering whether it should be a top instead. I reckon it'd look good either way but as a top it might have more catwalk impact?
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Ally's Medieval & Renaissance skirt
Heather from Tyne & Wear has almost finished her outfits, just a couple more to complete. She's working on a ceramics theme and she's been getting some technical help from NorthumbriaUniversity fashion department. I really like the pleats and the bold graphics. This is going to look great on the right model.
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Ceramics inspired dress
The models pretty much all booked now, we're using some professional models and some from last year's Your Label catwalk, I'm just going through their pictures so I can brief the hair and makeup team.
I've asked all the winners to display one of their outfits at the Blast/V&A Fashion Festival on October the second, we'll have a DVD of the catwalk showing too so everyone can see how the clothes worked on the models. I'm hoping to get as many of the winners down for the day to give festival goers the chance to talk to them about their creations, let's hope thy can all make it....
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Just got back from a mentoring session with Holly, Becky and Megan in Gloucestershire.
I have to admit I was quite worried about what progress they might have made with their collection, last time we met they hadn't done that much, I think they'd been struggling with their patterns and they were being really ambitious with some of their ideas.
I was pleasantly surprised that they are on the right track now and have got some outfits pretty much finished. There's loads of little details to finish but I think they can handle what they need to do (and fit in coursework and some "me time" too!).
Their collection is all in red and black with Japanese characters and lots of wooden beads and bamboo, here's one of the styles that's nearly finished:
Front of Japanese inspired dress
Back of Japanese inspired dress
It should look great on the catwalk with the bead fringes swishing about.
They've also been thinking about the music they want to use, the consensus seems to be something Japanese and Punky! Ìý
I got the invitations back from the printers yesterday and when I gave some to the girls I think it actually sunk in that they're going to be part of a runway show in less than 4 weeks!
let's hope they get it all done...
Hi... I'm Olaf Parker, I'm the resident fashion expert at Blast and in the wider fashion world I'm a designer. I've been designing clothes and teaching fashion for around 20 years, showing my collections on catwalks all around the world.
My major job at Blast is to organise the Your Label competition which gives aspiring designers the chance to show their ideas on the catwalk during London Fashion Week. This is the third year of Your Label and we've made things a little bit different this time: instead of taking just one group of young people and meeting with them each week to help them make their collection and organise their show we ran a competition to choose 10 different designers, all of whom get to show a capsule collection on the catwalk as part of the same show, a bit like a graduate show but during London Fashion Week.
It's proving to be pretty complicated, I'm hoping it's worth all the extra headaches!
The 10 designers (or design teams) we chose are:
Roxanna & Megan from Bolton, Ally from Buckinghamshire, Kirie-Lea from Essex, Heather from Gateshead, Jeyda from London, Jessica from Basingstoke, Evan from Surrey, Enya from Peterborough, Megan Holly & Becky from Gloucestershire, Navina from Cambridge.
Some of them are quite skilled at making garments, some of them have never made a garment before! We felt that their designs all had something really interesting about them though and they've each got a mentor to help them when they get stuck. They've also all got really supportive parents to stitch on beads, drive them round the fabric shops, help make patterns and just about anything else that needs doing.
So.... they've all started their collections (6 outfits each) and they've got just under a month to go until London Fashion Week. Their designs were great, I'm just hoping that they can turn them into actual outfits.....
I'll be posting regular updates and pictures so you can see how they get on and whether they can all finish in time.....
| 11:14 UK time, Monday, 20 September 2010
