![\"Willie](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/feature-3.jpg\")
Portraits: Phil Dunlop Makeup: Poppy France<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Portraits: Phil Dunlop Makeup: Poppy France<\/p>\n
\nTo mark the end of Willie Walters’ 24-year tenure at the helm of Central Saint Martins, we asked the professor her to share her most memorable graduate looks from the last quarter of a century.\u00a0Hand-picked by the famed fashion professor\u00a0herself, scroll through the exclusive archive below to view the\u00a012 alumni\u00a0that earned their top marks.
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\n![\"HusseinChalayan\"](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/HusseinChalayan.jpg\")
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For most students, the pressure of final exams\u00a0coupled with the anxiety of graduation\u00a0life can make post-collegiate life feel like a fate worse than death. Taking this sentiment and channelling\u00a0it into his graduate collection, in 1993\u00a0Hussein Chalayan<\/a> presented designs that had been buried underground\u00a0as an homage to death and resurrection. The creative hasn’t slowed down since, with accolades and recognition from the BFA twice (winning the coveted Designer of the Year award in 1999 and 2000) and, more recently, the Fashion Visionary Award during Singapore’s Audi Fashion Festival. Yet another example of the exemplary vision exhibited by CSM’s student body, Tristan Webber’s final presentation is one that still holds relevance today. The perforated trousers and red leather coat\u00a0could easily be mistaken for one of this season’s runway favourites. In addition to establishing\u00a0his own brand, Webber has followed in Walters’ footsteps\u00a0with an academic career of his own at London’s Royal College of Art. Though Peter Cash was all the rage during his last year at university, the fashion designer has all but vanished in recent years. A quick Google search offers no sign of the creative, but\u00a0when asked about his whereabouts CSM did offer some insight. “We do know that Cash went on to work for Dries Van Noten for many years after graduating, his current status is unknown to us.” Where are you, Peter? When Edward Meadham left CSM in 2002, the fashion designer\u00a0didn’t allow himself to rest on any\u00a0laurels. Instead, he continued to create using\u00a0all of the courage and rebellion famously\u00a0instructed upon by\u00a0Walters. Partnering with fellow CSM classmate\u00a0Benjamin Kirchhoff\u00a0to create the label Meadham Kirchhoff, the two creatives released spectacularly riotous designs that paid tribute to Leigh Bowery. Unfortunately, the brand is no more, but earlier this year\u00a0Meadham was found presenting Beetlejuice-inspired designs for\u00a0Sophia Webster at London Fashion Week. Famous for his sculptural approach to design, Gareth Pugh<\/a> became a\u00a0fashion favourite among industry tastemakers for his\u00a0ability to distort the human body’s dimensions into fantastical works of art. Earlier this year, the designer revealed a collection<\/a> inspired by Hannibal Lector, sending models onto the runway dressed in the film’s\u00a0infamous\u00a0cannibal-proof\u00a0masks. King of the bodycon dress, David Komakhidze<\/a>\u00a0transforms the sexy silhouette into a high-fashion ensemble with the addition of voluminous and textural\u00a0embellishments. Working under his eponymous label, the Georgia-born designer’s work was heavily featured in Beyonce’s Mrs. Carter tour. With Bey’s stamp of approval, what more does a fashion designer need? Inspired by the sleepy seaside towns\u00a0along Britain’s coast, Craig Lawrence creates chunky knits that follow a “more is more” aesthetic. Celebrity fans include Lady Gaga,\u00a0Bjork, and Skin who had the designer create custom pieces for her tour with British alt-rock group Skunk Anansie. With a colourful approach to design, Molly Goddard<\/a> creates pieces based on the themes of nostalgia with a “Sunday best” aesthetic. The resulting collections are an\u00a0extravagant combination of delicate tulle and boiled wool that serve as a grown-up tribute to your old high school prom dress. Fashion’s biggest stores have taken note, with London’s Dover Street Market commissioning the creative to build an installation in 2015. When James Buck graduated with his BA in Fashion, the young designer decided it wasn’t time to leave CSM quite yet. He followed up with a MA from the beloved school, and gained attention for his final presentation which featured many plastic phalluses. At this year’s Fashion East presentation, Buck revealed\u00a0Rottingdean Bazaar, a new label co-founded with Luke Brooks featuring crisp white ensembles adorned with colourful badge-like emblems. After victoriously winning this year’s LVMH prize, Grace Wales Bonner<\/a> has quickly become\u00a0the menswear designer on everyone’s lips. Borrowing\u00a0style elements most frequently found in traditional African design, she pairs them with contemporary silhouettes and tailoring for a finished look that is truly her own.\u00a0We’re smitten with\u00a0Bonner’s unique interpretation on men’s fashion, which earned the designer a spot on our recent feature<\/a> of menswear’s best talents. After graduating from\u00a0CSM in 2015, Wataru Tominaga<\/a> relocated from London to the alt-fashion capital of Berlin in a move that left the fashion industry puzzled. His menswear designs fit in well with the city’s eccentricities though, with each collection shown in the German capital displaying\u00a0a melee of\u00a0print and colour. Tominaga was awarded with this year’s\u00a0Premi\u00e8re Vision Grand Prize at the Hy\u00e8res International Festival of Fashion and Photography in France, thus dispelling the myth that young designers ought to show in London if they\u00a0hope\u00a0to receive worldwide notoriety. Though she’s still fresh out of university, Soyoung Park\u00a0isn’t wasting any time. The\u00a0womenswear designer has already won this year’s\u00a0L\u2019Or\u00e9al Professionnel Young Talent Award, with the decision made \u00a0by a panel of judges that include previously mentioned CSM student Grace Wales Bonner. This support from past CSM grads for their younger peers is a testament to the community atmosphere built by Walters, a one-of-a-kind professor that will truly be missed. 12 of the university’s most exemplary teacher’s pets<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36336,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[1496,5333,5521,5522,5523,21,3168,2071,5524,3012,4654,5525,5526,5527,5528,5529],"class_list":["post-36315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fashion","tag-central-saint-martins","tag-charles-jeffrey","tag-craig-lawrence","tag-david-komakhidze","tag-edward-meadham","tag-fashion","tag-gareth-pugh","tag-grace-wales-bonner","tag-hussein-chalayan","tag-molly-goddard","tag-osman-ahmed","tag-peter-cash","tag-soyoung-park","tag-tristan-webber","tag-wataru-tominaga","tag-willie-walters"],"acf":{"main_category":null,"legacy":"1","exclude_from_ads":null,"hero_title":null,"subtitle":null,"hero":null,"teasers":null,"facebook_image":null,"related_articles":null,"next_article":null,"sleek_card_focus":null,"content":null},"yoast_head":"\n
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\n![\"Tristan](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/TristanWebber-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTristan Webber<\/h2>\n
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\n![\"Peter](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/PETERcash.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPeter Cash<\/h2>\n
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\n![\"Edward](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/EDWARDmeadham-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEdward Meadham<\/h2>\n
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\n![\"Gareth](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/GARETHpugh.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGareth Pugh<\/h2>\n
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\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/DAVIDkoma-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDavid Komakhidze<\/h2>\n
\n![\"Craig](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/CRAIGlawrence.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCraig Lawrence<\/h2>\n
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\n![\"Molly](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/MOLLYgoddard-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMolly Goddard<\/h2>\n
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\n![](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/JAMESbuck.jpg\")
<\/p>\nJames Buck<\/h2>\n
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\n![\"Grace](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/GRACEwalesbonner-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGrace Wales Bonner<\/h2>\n
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\n![\"Wataru](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/WATARUtominaga.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWataru Tominaga<\/h2>\n
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\n![\"Soyoung](\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/soyoungPARK-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSoyoung Park<\/h2>\n
\nPortraits by Phil Dunlop<\/a>
\nMakeup by Poppy France<\/a>
\nArchive pics courtesy of Central Saint Martins<\/a>
\nWith thanks to Melanie Ashley and Hywel Davies at CSM
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\nRead Osman Ahmed’s full feature on Willie Walters for SLEEK 51 hier<\/a><\/strong> \n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"