Made in CzechoSlovakia, Maja Polakova
Alongside the catwalk show, Kingston MA fashion showcased the graduate projects of the designers in an exhibition that brought to life the Fashion Lab experimental ethos of encouraging the students to question the body as architecture, language and landscape.
Made in CzechoSlovakia by Maja Polakova is inspired by the designer’s family life, growing up in the former Czechoslovakia and taught the traditional craft of crochet by her aunt and embroidery by her grandma. Maja’s installation is a mannequin covered in hand-made crochet pieces in different colours – each colour represents a different emotion and a stand of the colour loops down to a memory jar and headphones that play sounds that act as a twist on the emotion represented.
Micro-Nutrient Couture, Emily Crane
Emily Crane’s work, Micro-Nutrient Couture, involves growing edible clothes and jewellery. Emily has been exchanging ideas with chefs at Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant the Fat Duck. Emily said, “It was fantastic, once I’d explained what I was trying to do, pots and pans came flying out. Everyone chipped in, saying ‘try this’, ‘taste this’ and there was a frenzy of activity.’
You're all Mine (you're all in me), Yuka Maeda
Yuka Maeda‘s collection You’re all Mine (you’re all in me) revolves around a story conceived by Yuka about a 17 year old girl who makes clothes for her imaginary friends, who are in reality parts of her split personality. ‘The laboriously handmade pieces show the feeling she has for them,’ Lingerie-inspired pieces are given traditional trimmings of crochet lace, ribbons and embroidery stitches – innocent yet sensual.
Versus Concept, Judy Zhang
Judy Zhang was demonstrating her Versus Concept – a garment cutting technique created to reduce the production of waste throughout the design for both mass-market and bespoke areas of fashion. Versus is also designed to make conceptual cutting accessible to a wide audience whilst ensuring no two patterns are alike – each pattern determined by the user and wearer alone.
Modu_Gram, Lianna Sheppard; Skin Graph, Laura Michaels
Lianna Sheppard’s project Modu_Gram looks at 3D structure and form. Taking origami as a starting point, Lianna brought up the scale to create larger forms in white vinyl to be worn as jewellery, as well as smaller heat-sensitive cubes that can perch on shoulders or hips.
Skin Graph by Laura Michaels is an exploration of the bridge between fashion and architecture. It allows the individual to take control in creating their bespoke contour pattern through articulation and expression of their desired body movements.
Kingston Fashion MA
Maja Polakova
Emily Crane
Yuka Maeda
Lianna Sheppard
Laura Michaels
