LFW Report: LCFMA22 Showcase

London Fashion Week, one of the most exciting and inspiring events in any creative’s calendar. On this year’s agenda, in the midst of one runway show after another, was London College of Fashion’s Graduate Showcase. Bringing together the work of postgraduate students from across the college’s rich portfolio of graduate courses, the showcase encapsulates the visual wonder and adventure, academic rigour and entrepreneurial innovation of the new generation of creatives. Held in Victoria House Basement, the industrial space was brought to life by the enthralling work from graduates across all three of London College of Fashion’s Schools; The Fashion Business School, The School of Media and Communication and the School of Design and Technology. From fashion design technology to photography, to fashion artefacts to footwear, the LCFMA22 Showcase celebrated the very best of emerging talent within fashion, design and beyond.

Upon entering the exhibition, I was introduced to an immersive, sensuous environment and greeted by a diverse, entrancing display of creative works. To my left, two mannequins stood dressed in intricately designed costumes by MA Costume Design for Performance graduates while elaborate sculptures, made by MA Fashion Artefact graduates, sat upon plinths to my right. Visitors were able to weave through the collection of works, allowing them to closely observe the craftsmanship shown in each and every piece. Further into the space, in a white-tiled corner, the work from graduates of MA Fashion Futures was nestled within a VR headset. The graduate Emily Taylor interrogates the current fashion system, a system that often disregards its environmental and social implications, by exploring what fashion would look like if it were viewed as more than a capitalist commodity and as something that could positively impact the social, political and ecological climate. Through an immersive VR experience, Taylor offers an insight into the future of fashion and consumption that brings community, sustainability, art and self-expression together.

As I continued to journey through the sensory landscape that combined physicality with digital technologies, I found myself wanting to return to a piece that I saw earlier in the exhibition by Ka Kit Zhang, an MA Fashion Artefact graduate. Comprising four separate elements, Zhang’s sculptural ensemble was inspired by the desire for space. Titled ‘Jam on the Train,’ the pieces explore the unwanted intimate physical contact one often experiences on public transport during peak hours, a time when the physical boundaries of an individual are lost within a sea of passengers. The project aims to conceptually reinstate these boundaries through physical pieces that create a space around the wearer. Each piece in the collection is made for different purposes, among which are avoiding eye contact, reducing anxiety or reclaiming personal space.

The final room of the exhibition, designed as a kind of store showroom, was home to an arrangement of rails that presented the diversity of the work from MA Fashion Design Technology graduates, both menswear and womenswear. Visitors were immersed completely in an eclectic mix of innovative design styles, making it a truly inspiring and stimulating experience. Similar to a department store, each designer had their own rail and visitors were able to inspect the pieces closely, even touch them, as well as converse with the designers themselves, offering a humanistic quality to fashion week. Chun Chen, and her collection titled ‘Dotsugi,’ caught my interest due to her innovative use of materials.