Glasgow School of Art MDes Fashion Promenade 2015

Opening on Saturday 12 September and running until Friday 18 September, the graduate degree show is unmissable for all you Glasgow creatives, and the opening event of this showcase week for the GSA graduate talent is the 2015 MDes Fashion Promenade.

Intended to extend, develop and hone the graduates' individual ‘design signature’, the MDes in Fashion and Textiles at Glasgow School of Art is home to the most exciting and innovative fashion talent in Scotland at the moment and, taking place in The Vic on Friday 11 September, their opening spectacular will consist of three back-to-back presentations held at 6, 7 and 8pm. Showcasing collections from designers both homegrown and international, this event should be filed under ‘must see’ in the Scottish fashion diary.

The presentation will be designed by GSA Interior Design graduate Paulina Brozeck, and will subsequently be displayed in the Reid Building as part of the 2015 Graduate Degree Show, featuring the work of local talents the likes of Greg Learmonth whose collection focuses on a ‘rowing club mentality of uniform and dominance’, all in white and cream hues. His collection is a development of white-waxed cotton belted macs and drill bombers, with silk jersey off the shoulder blousons weighed with pleated wool pants. Adding texture, large sized cotton jumpers expose the collarbones and heavy wool blankets add a sports edge.

Linen pleated dresses are crushed and androgynous, finished with a collection of classic, graphic silk scarves and ribbed wool sweatbands. Ellen Carrick’s sportswear-inspired knitwear will also feature in the GSA 2015 Fashion Promenade. Ellen cites the influence of Street Style and Subcultures in her collection; juxtaposing formal and casualwear, she mixes smart trousers with bomber jackets, marrying tailored and sportswear styles to create a rounded, summer menswear collection.

Hayley McSporran, winner of the John Mather Rising Star Scholars presents her collection S K U L P T U R V ( ) I D, the creation of conceptual, sculptural but ultimately wearable pieces for womenswear, inspired by the abstract sculptural forms of Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. The offset forms and details in Hepworth's sculpture inspire the collection’s silhouettes, contrasting soft draped silk and jersey dresses against more structural wool outerwear pieces. Emma McAndrew's men's knitwear collection, which ranges from fine knit intarsia jumpers to chunky over pieces, was inspired by industrial machinery such as aircrafts, motorcycles and cars – things generally associated with men. Emma's love of intarsia knitting helped her to achieve a bold, graphic, colour-blocked aesthetic, and her collection of jumpers – developed from a combination of flat layouts and Emma's own fabrics – boast an uncompromising visual impact.

Callum Mckay showcases his unique contemporary twists on fashion trends throughout recent history. Stemming from his love of travel and popular culture, Callum incorporates silhouettes of large shapes, fused with an urban aesthetic. Identifying the 1950s as a decade imperative to fashion's history, during which time the wearing of denim and jeans is synonymous with youthful rebellion, Callum's menswear capsule collection pays homage to the 'tropical ambience' of Costa Rica, and the 'urban notoriety' of denim streetwear.

Bringing a little international flair into the mix is Aleem UI Hassan from Pakistan, whose collection heavily focuses on deconstruction. Entitled Primordial Deconstruction it explores the similar characteristics of decay in wood and metal, two very different materials. His collection fuses mixed media with classic tie-dye to create an eye-catching mix of elegant and contemporary styles. Hailing from Seoul in South Korea, Sujin Lee’s work is inspired by a lifetime immersed in nature. Celebrating beauty in nature, Lee aims to create a dreamlike atmosphere with hand drawn botanical illustrations printed onto the garments. From Taiwan, Ho-Fan Wu took inspiration from the floral patterning found on the traditional Japanese kimono, subverting convention by creating irregular arrangements and juxtaposing them against geometric patterns. Wu’s research informed the decision to use foil printing rather than digital printing as a nod to the ancient Japanese craft of Ise-katagami, and the shapes too are Japanese, the lampshade silhouette having been adopted from Victorian dresses by the Lolita subculture so popular in
contemporary Far Eastern culture. Wu’s collection is comprised of skirts, with a selection of capes in varying lengths with a diverse selection of front lapels.

Yifei Liu from China cites ‘time’ as the influence for her collection and breaks it down into three conceptual ideas. For ‘decay’, she buried in soil garments and fabrics that would later be incorporated into her collection, so that they might ‘communicate with nature’. For ‘shelf life’, Liu was influenced by a narrative device from Wong Kar-wai’s critically acclaimed 1994 film Chungking Express, comparing the production and expiration dates of produce to birthdays and lifespans to inspire flock and embroidery text work in her collection. Lastly, for ‘germiculture’ she conducted an experiment of cultures of bacteria, using felting in her collection to reproduce their textures, creating a diverse and conceptual collection.

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The 2015 Fashion Promenades Presentations will take place at The Vic at 6, 7 & 8pm Fri 11 Sep

The collections will be on show in the Reid Building as part of the 2015 Graduate Degree Show, Sat 12-Fri 18 Sep