On October 25 BA (Hons) Fashion graduates from British Higher School of Art & Design shown their best collections at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia 2017. Overall 9 designers – Anastasia Pavlovich, Emily Tokareva, Yulia Ivanov, Ksenia Dorogova, Lina Bouxdorf, Nina Veresova, Tehmina Poghosyan, Uliana Nekrasova and Zlata Belokobylskaia – demonstrated their mastery and creativity, fostered under the guidance of BA (Hons) fashion programme leader Clare Lopeman.
Concepts range from addressing the socio-political context and the potential of fashion design as a sustainable solution for the Refugee crisis in Greece, with epic filmic images shot on location in the Moria Refugee camp in Lesbos. These images evoke a profound response, while the collection offers new methods to create a ‘capsule’ wardrobe in adverse circumstances. This collection reaches beyond existing frames as both a social commentary on protection, sanctuary and re-identification as well as therapy through craft, hand embroidery and construction techniques.
Other collections examine a range of conceptual narratives and starting points such as categorization, coding and re-thinking how fashion and textile technology can be presented as both an art form through scientific conventions of archiving and taxonomies. Students have also questioned and interrogated the future possibilities and notions of ‘Russian Fashion’ and how both Soviet and pre-revolutionary costume, craft and techniques can be re-interpreted and integrated in a convincing contemporary manner. Collections explore different angles on this, ranging from the epic cinematography of Soviet film Director Andrei Tarkovsky and how that can influence emotive and emotional approaches to fashion, craft and textile design. Other collections reference archival starting points such as the nostalgia of the country Dacha and pastoral life, while others look to Soviet imagery, functionality as well as traditional Russian costume through the lens of contemporary sportswear, re – interpreting historical techniques through new technologies, materials, and processes to create innovative surface design and functional detailing.
The course continues to grow its international presence and reputation with Tehmina Poghosyan’s final collection selected to represent BA (Hons) Fashion at the International Show at Graduate Fashion Week, London for the first time this year. The course successfully collaborates and creates «live» projects with such brands as Adidas Originals, JNBY, All Saints and TopShop. The students of BA (Hons) Fashion work as interns at Giles Deacon, Mary Katrantzou, Oswald Boateng, Danielle Scutt, Louise Gray, ZDDZ London and Eudon Choi. The graduates create their own brands, the most known of which are Daria Selyanova’s ZDDZ, Alisa Kuzembaeva’s Alisa Kuzembaeva and Maria Kazakova’s Jahnkoy. Lady Gaga and Rita Ora are among their admirers.
