In the run-up to the event, ARTS THREAD takes a look at last year’s winners.

Justin Anderson won the prize for Best Fashion FIlm and Best idea for his work Get Richard. The video, created for Vogue Italia starred up-and-coming designer Richaed Nicoll. The narrative shows the designer being bound and gagged before being dumped in the middle of the desert.

Tata Christiane won the prize for Best Fashion for her Comet Club collection, which featured in a fashion film created by Das Schloss.The gritty film shows models wearing Tata’s designs following a comet to its point of impact where they discover a human-alien being.

“The Game of Things” by Cristian Straub for Ethel Vaughn from Cristian Straub on Vimeo.

The Game of Things by Cristian Straub won the prize for Best Cinematography. The film, commissioned by Hamburg fashion brand Ethel Vaughn, is heavily inspired by the cinema of the late 60s and early 70s and depicts a woman mourning the end of a relationship, before taking a strange turn.

Calum MacDiarmid took home the prize for best music for his score for the short film Stamen, starring Katie Ball and Graham Dickson. And Guido Verelst and Dodi Espinosa were awarded the Best Esmod Production prize for their video shot in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerd, which is closed for renovations until 2017.

To apply for this year’s Berlin Fashion Film Festival click here. Deadline is 15 May.

FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2013 returns for its fifth edition, running for nine days from 31 May. The interdisciplinary event will feature a fashion shows, exhibitions, performances as well as pop-up shops, workshops and presentations throughout several locations in Maastricht.

Designers participating in the FASHIONCLASH runway shows include Netherlands-based designers Linda Friesen and MCFOOL, plus SQUAT // Young @ Squat will present several up-and-coming fashion designers from Slovenia. German designers Franziska Michael and Tata Christiane will also show their latest collections alongside the likes of Pierre Antoine Vettorello, DIORALOP, Uta Bekaia and many more.

A former factory in Mosa will act as the temporary home of this year’s exhibitions. Visitors will be able to view collection by designers such as Ann Boogaerts and Yvonne Laufer and photography by ike van der Ent, jewellery by Milan Stamenovic as well as textile designs and installations.

Visitors will also be able to view the 2012 programme of the Berlin fashion film festival.

At the Museum aan het Vrijthof (starting 5 June) FASHIONCLASH will exhibit some of the previous FASHIONCLASH highlights and work by Ann Boogaerts, Joelle Boers, Bregje Cox, Gabriel Guevara and Ingo Binder.

FASHIONCLASH runs from May 31 to 9 June 09 2013. For more information about the program visit www.fashionclash.nl

For more posts about fashion, follow the FASHION THREAD.

London College of Fashion student Brogan Toyn’s colourful menswear collection aims to address the way gay black men are represented in fashion and in the the black community. Laura Worthington from Nottingham Trent University created a fashion collection that embraces different body types not usually catered to in the fashion industry. Jiaqi Zhong (Glasgow School of Art) took inspiration from the unconventional beauty of Tilda Swinton when creating her collection.

Edinburgh college of art student Eleanor Paulin and Georgina Mulholland from The Arts University College Bournemouth both criticise the unachievable ‘ideal’ body shape perpetuated by fashion imagery with their womenswear collections, while LCF student Shabnam Eslambolchi aims to communicate the identity of the Persian nation.

Growing up, Andrew Dhesi (Edinburgh College of Art) had very few role models who shared his south Asian heritage. For his collection, he has taken visual cues from traditional Asian costume and given it a contemporary twist. Danya Sjadzali (University of Creative Arts Epsom) took influence from Middle Eastern and Western historical burlesque costumes  and Heather Dooley (Edinburgh) has visually represented the geographical aspect of diversity in her collection.

Diversity NOW! is brought to you in association with i-D Magazine and supported by ARTS THREAD, Graduate Fashion Week, Own Label and sponsored by Succeed Foundation.

For more information and to find out about the other finalists, follow the Diversity Now thread.

The winners of the 28th International Festival of Fashion & Photography Hyéres have been announced! Taking home the Premiére Vision Jury Grand Prize was Satu Maaranen. Swiss designer Camille Kunz was awareded the Chloé Prize.

The Public Prize of the City of Hyéres was awarded to Chinese designer Shanshan Ruan and the Public Prize of the Palais de Tokyo was handed to Yvonne Poei-Yie Kwok from The Netherlands.

To learn more about the ten fashion finalists and the collections they showed, read our Hyéres fashion roundup.

In the photography category, Petros Efstathiadis was given the Jury Grand Prize while Anna Orlowska and Emile Barret took home the School of Visual Arts and Public Prize awards.

The winning designs will be on display until 26 May in an exhibition curated by Raphaëlle Stopin and Jean-Pierre Blanc, held in the Villa Noailles,

For more information, visit the Villa Noailles website.

Twelve graduates from the Institute for Fashion Design Basel presented their final collections in a catwalk show on March 23. ARTS THREAD takes a look at their work:

Nadine Burkhardt’s collection features long, strong lines and classic shaped in contrasting materials. Nadine accessorised with multi-colours gloves and created fun ankle boots complete with balled heels.

Ismael Ulrich’s collection featured hybrid garments that were halfway between drag and shaman costume. The overtly sexualised garments were punctuated with gold cod pieces. Bettina Mileta combined high waisted exercise pants with pleats and elements of formal clothing to make her urban menswear collection.

The act of seduction and the feeling of bondage are combined in Camille Aleña’s collection. Camille has placed emphasis on the wearer’s hips by narrowing the waist with a corselet and the bust is emphasized by decorative elements. Elena Görner’s collection featured layers of colourful tulle and silk overlapping to create intense pattern. Joanna Meister, meanwhile used bold blocks of colour in her elegant womenswear collection.

Nina Brogli’s garments featured pleats and shapes in unexpected places and Noemie Schelbert’s beautiful collection featured a garment with a sleeve bolero made from cut leather fringes. Anaïs Marti combined chiffon, latex and fur to create a collection that was feminine, sensual yet aggressive.

Traditional folk clothing known as Tracht served as the inspiration for Jasmine Einsele’s collection. Israel Mariano dressed her male models in Trousocks, a kind of male stocking, paired with long shirts, in a bid to challenge tired symbols of masculinity. Bettina Walther made her men’s garments from fine silks and lace, also using materials traditionally used for womenswear.

Tomas Berzins and Victoria Feldman will show their collection of garments that marry industrial aesthetics with artisinal techniques and a sprinkling of Swarovski crystals.  Swiss designer Xénia Laffely’s flamboyant menswear collection has been created as an act of rebellion against conservative male figures.

German designer Henning Jurke’s menswear collection is a mash-up of formalwear, floral women’s garments and metallic jackets. Satu Maaranen’s collection questions whether its possible to wear nature and design garments that take into account the surrounding environment. Xing Su meanwhile describes her collection as ‘inviting the consumers to take a necessary role in dressing themselves’.

Camille Kunz says of her collection: ‘My collection evokes my brothers and me, who might once have wanted to be a man.’  Amsterdam Fashion Institute graduate Yvonne Poei-Yie Kwok’s collection features a lot of intricate handwork while Marion de Raucourt’s was created to evoke the assembly methods of packaging.

Damien Ravn’s collection is a contemporary take on medieval armour and Shanshan Ruan’s womenswear collection features a series of garments in opaque hues.

To find out where you can see the catwalk show online, visit the Hyéres website.

Milan’s just closing its doors for another year tonight. If you have chance today, take a look at some of the pieces from the Royal College of Art 2012 graduates in an exhibition entitled Work.

Eirik Helgesen’s Bone lamp is concerned with the meting between global industry and local culture. ‘Aluminium rod produced at the controversial Alcoa aluminium factory in East Iceland is merged with bone from wild reindeer of the same area.’

Mary Argyrou’s The Puritan Light updates the tradition of oil lamp, using a spoon-like reflector as protective shield, just as our hands would cup round to protect the flame in former times. ‘The reflector’s charm, as well as the pure efficiencies that characterise its form, are dispersed through these pieces by adopting the essentials, whilst serving under the rhythms of that single flame.’

KS _ MG by Meret Probst is a just-released project by the designer. ‘In traditional glassblowing, the volumes of the vessels are determined by either the glassblower’s skill in free blowing or by the shape of a mould. The moulds are usually crafted out of solid wood that is soaked in water for days. The process used in the making of KS _ MG allows to control the shape of the glass on one hand but works almost like a three-dimensional sketch in glass on the other. The sheet metal moulds are quick and cheap to produce and can be used and adjusted spontaneously resulting in individual glassware.’

Kitchen Scales by Helena Karelson consists of ‘two kitchen measuring jugs not only measure by volume but also by weight using water displacement method. Ingredients can be weighed by placing them in the smaller square vessel, with roughly 1/3 of water in the larger jug. Due to the simple physics of water displacement, the water level and graduation on the inside jug will tell you how much ingredients you have. The inner vessel comprises of two compartments; the smaller one being ideal for weighing items such as butter, nuts and herbs, the larger one suited to items such as pasta, flour, rice.’

Charlotte Kingsnorth’s Hybreed takes vintage wooden chair frames and subverts them with fleshy textile growths. ‘A mixture of instinct and the character of the frame informs the designer when shaping the cushioning that makes up its body. The chairs are hand sculpted and stitched at her London studio.’

Reasoning The Void by Hannah Morgan ‘continues to explore the tension between object and body. The wooden and leather pieces are an abstraction of form that hints at the recognisable, as the origin of inspiration derives from documentation of self-performed film work.

Works by graduates from the Royal College of Art runs April 09-14 at Ventura Lambrate, intersection of via dei Canzi and via Gaetano Crespi.

Aalto University is at Ventura Lambrate this April with an exhibition entitled Norther, with 26 stimulating student projects showcasing the best of furniture, ceramics and glass, industrial design, textiles and fashion from Finland.

Nearly half a metre in height, three pastel-hued stoneware and porcelain robots by Matias Liimatainen are made up of casts of everyday industrial objects, such as a CCTV camera that makes up the head of one of the robots. Some of the robots contain kinetic elements, or function as light fixtures.

Sherpa by Man Yau is a cake stand whose colourful detachable pillars and white porcelain plates can be re-arranged to create a mulititude of different styles.

Laura Juslin-Pallasmaa utilises the local natural resource of reindeer leather for her fashion collection inspired by modern architecture. ‘Primary shapes and Le Corbusier’s regular lines have guided the design process. My work expresses the cleanness, simplicity and harmony of the optimal shape, surface and cut.’

Vilma Pellinen’s Surface is ‘from a collection of 30 designs that reflect our surroundings and its phenomena. Surface brings together thoughts of nature and urban living, sophistication and street art, as well as foreign cultures and my own roots.’

The Kiila bench by Noora Liesimaa is made from Corten steel and is nearly 3 metres in length. Its sculptural shape is inspired by the thin, sleek form of a sailing boat’s stern.

Nina Kosonen’s birchwood chair Lean ‘was inspired by structural experiments, the variation of dimensions, and visible joints. The outcome is a sculpture-like, slightly flexible chair made of solid wood.’

The porcelain collection Dear by Goeun Shin is composed of colourful coffee cups. ‘The design process was a journey to finding sympathetic proportions and colours. I focused on creating a sweet moment for each day.’

Fields of Blue designed by Ai Ono is a stoneware tile collection inspired by the 2001 work Viatore by composer Péteris Vasks. ‘I designed this ceramic art piece based on my own visual experiences of the music. It expresses the quality of transience and ephemerality, which is present in Vasks’s music.’

Hanna Anonen’s Pala is ‘a carpet, which can be assembled using identical modular pieces of felt. The carpet’s shape and size can be changed depending on the user’s needs.’ The Impermanence of Things by Khanittha Nualtaranee is an over a metre square installation using cotton threads that create an optical illusion of movement and colour.

Norther by Aalto University runs April 09-14 at Ventura Lambrate, Via Privata Oslavia 7, Milan

Students tackled five different mental health issues: Alzheimer’s, Asperger’s Syndrome, Epilepsy, Schizophrenia and Strokes. Each of the students approached their designs with care in order to fully grasp the underlying neurobiology and the impact of the diseases they were trying to address.

Vanessa Nogueira was tasked with creating a garment that represented the effect of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia worldwide, affecting millions of people. In the UK, 700,000 people suffer from the disease. ‘For this garment I felt it was important to capture the journey of a person suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. It is the portrait of a mind filled with passion, ideas, creativity and life, and the slow dissolution of this,’ says Vanessa.

Dayze Steward created a piece addressing the obsessive natures, feeling of social isolation and need to maintain methodical rituals that people with Asperger’s often experience. ‘Asperger’s Syndrome is a commonly misunderstood and misdiagnosed form of Autism,’ says Dayze. ‘The idea behind the design is to show the complex connections in the brain during regular thought processes of someone with this syndrome, also to illustrate that within these processes the mind would over think things and something simple would then be twisted into something elaborate.’

Amber Newton was challenged with designing a piece that represents Schizophrenia. Amber drew inspiration from the work of artist Melvin Way and Agnes Richter, a woman who was held as a patient in an asylum in the 1890s. ‘[Agnes] embroidered her thoughts and feelings into a straitjacket. From this I have created a Victorian style silhouette and introduced smocking and embroidery onto my jacket.’

See the Winchester School of Art Fashion and Textile Design course on ARTS THREAD and for more on the other collections, visit the University of Southampton website.

This April students and alumni from Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and Design present The Beauty of Things, an exhibition of projects on the subject of hygiene.

Students from the Design Dept, Fashion, Jewellery and Textiles, focus on our interpretation of hygiene, often with quite personal results. Inflection by Romina Hermans is a mask and neck protector made from intricate laser-cut wood, so delicate it can flex around the body’s curves.

Anne Buscher’s project came from her study of the human foot and in particular the space between the toes. By rigorous copying and making reprints in quick-hardening silicone, Anne has created a pair of slippers that can only be worn by the person whose foot made the imprint, as the spaces between the toes are so accurately reproduced.

Elegance of Dirt by Marit van Heumen is an intriguing look at human hair and how once detached from the body turns instantly to undesirable from its former state of crowning glory. Marit has designed a series of three porcelain implements that pick up unwanted hair from a bath or shower drain. There is one piece with gold hooked needles to pull out the hair, a second piece to brush out the last strands and a third one to polish them.

Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and Design with The Beauty of Things runs April 09-14 at Ventura Lambrate.