Featuring Final Year Fashion Design Student Abigail Skrentny

Taking inspiration from her childhood in Vancouver, final year Fashion Design Student Abigail Skrentny is able to create a collection that really shows her understanding of the freedom of childhood.

Interview by Lewis Evans

In her graduate collection, Abi studies the contrast of the ‘prep’ girl against suburban American ‘freedom’ based partly on the story of her father who grew up in suburban Chicago before moving to an English boarding School.

Further inspiration comes from films like The Florida Projectwhich explore the idea of childhood freedom and captures the essence and resilience of being a child. Abi explains that its not childhood she attempting to get across but the idea of not caring about what people think of you and doing ‘it’ anyway. Abi decided to use a minimal colour scheme of rich purple, strong green and a mixed range of pinks, partly, based on childhood pictures of snowsuits.

Abi explained that she’s inspired by real people, she prefers a quiet story compared to an extraordinary story, to some seeming boring but to her really standing out. Abi’s design process includes gathering a huge amount of her research and continuously drawing as she keeps changing and developing her ideas until she designs something that she’s proud of.

I asked Abi “Are you happy with your collection so far?”, she replied with “not yet, I always like to develop and improve my work, it’s the smaller things that I get pleasure from like sewing a perfect seem or figuring how to create something that I found quite difficult. By not being completely satisfied with your work it pushes you to work harder and helps you to overcome challenges”.

Abi’s advice to any other upcoming fashion design student is don’t be afraid of a challenge. By experimenting with different materials and techniques she is able to develop and grow as a designer. By taking her own style and spending some time on strengthening her weaknesses helps her to prepare for a future job within the fashion industry.

 

Winchester School of Art Press and Industry Fashion Show at The Vinyl Factory in Soho, London

On Monday 11 June 2018, Winchester School of Art (WSA) Fashion & Textile Design final year students will present their graduate collections.

    

The event is a fantastic opportunity to view the work of our emerging talent in a commercial setting alongside members of industry and press.

We are very proud that this event has supported our graduates in their long history of employability, working with companies such as
 Mulberry, Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Liberty London, Skinny Dip, Top Shop, H&M, Dazed Digital, Chloé, Peter Jensen, Collection 18, Jenny Packham, Kath Kidston, Cole & Sons, Erdem, i-D magazine, Urban Outfitters, Net-A-Porter and others.

View previous collections on Vogue.co.uk.

For more information contact the programme leader Cecilia Langemar on cl@soton.ac.uk

WSA Fashion and Textiles Students showcase work at PV Designs, Paris

For the second year running Fashion and Textile Design students from both second and third year had their design work exhibited at PV Designs, part of Premiere Vision, Paris – one of the largest international textile trade shows.

 

For 3 days work was viewed by a wide range of industry contacts some returning to our stand from last year to buy again. Students sold work to a variety of clients from established UK high-street retailers to prestigious Italian mills. Students that worked on the stand gained valuable insight into the textiles industry and first hand experience dealing with clients and buyers.

 

Congratulations to all students that had work selected to showcase and those that sold to industry.

 

Printed Textiles students work with interiors company Blendworth

Second year Printed Textiles students worked on a live project with the established Hampshire based interiors company Blendworth. After visiting the companies HQ to get a thorough introduction to the company and how they work, students were asked to visit local museums and archives to develop work for the theme ‘Historic Hampshire’ . Students were guided by Creative Director, Emma Mawston and Managing Director Andy Hancock to produce repeat designs for furnishing fabrics.
During the final Critical Reviews and interviews, two students work stood out to Blendworth – Olivia Shepherd and Ellie Bennewith. Their designs have been bought by the company to be put into production, as well as being given internships to gain greater insight into the company and how their designs will be developed.

 

Congratulations to Olivia and Ellie and we look forward to seeing the final designs when Blendworth launch the collection.

 

Another Kind of Life, Photography on the Margins

Touching on themes of countercultures, subcultures and minorities of all kinds, the show features the work of 20 photographers from the 1950s to the present day.

Walter Pfeiffer, untitled, by Carlo Joh 1973

Another Kind of Life follows the lives of individuals and communities operating on the fringes of society from America to India, Chile to Nigeria. The exhibition reflects a more diverse, complex view of the world, as captured and recorded by photographers. Driven by personal and political motivations, many of the photographers sought to provide an authentic representation of the disenfranchised communities with whom they spent months, years or even decades with, often conspiring with them to construct their own identity through the camera lens.

Featuring communities of sexual experimenters, romantic rebels, outlaws, survivalists, the economically dispossessed and those who openly flout social convention, the works present the outsider as an agent of change. From street photography to portraiture, vernacular albums to documentary reportage, the show includes the Casa Susanna Collection, Paz Errazuriz, Pieter Hugo, Mary Ellen Markand Dayanita Singh.

Advanced booking recommended. Check dates & book

Hannah Franks – Work in Progress

A snapshot of the latest illustrations by final year Fashion Design student Hannah Franks.

Fashion in Motion: John Alexander Skelton

The Victoria & Albert Museum’s next Fashion in Motion will feature the work of British menswear designer John Alexander Skelton on Friday 23 March in the V&A’s Raphael Gallery at 15.00, 17.00 and 20.00.

Skelton has been celebrated by I-D magazine as ‘one of the brightest, boldest, and most strikingly original talents to come out of London’s fashion scene in recent years’. Skelton has a sustainable design ethos, he utilises recycled fabrics such as antique bed sheets and old grain sacks, often found in markets. He customises these materials through hand-dying, over-washing, painting and patching to create garments inspired by his research into the past, traditional craft, heritage and politics.

Unable to attend Fashion in Motion? Don’t worry, you can view his pieces at Dover Street Market London.

Year 1 Fashion Design Shirt Project _ Original Copy

Three-week design project introducing basic pattern cutting, construction and deconstruction/reconstruction in order to learn the process of make and the importance of analysing and understanding garment silhouettes, shapes, details, seams and finishes.

All shirts are made from reclaimed or vintage fabrics and garments.

Shirt by Joshua Woods

Shirt by Poppy Cordon

Shirt by Eleanor Swan

2018 Fashion and Sustainability Forum

Join the conversation and let’s consider how we can change the future for the better. Don’t wait for someone else to solve the problem – respond to the challenge and become the expert.

This event is open to staff and students of Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton and selected guests and visitors. Tickets are free and the event is all day, so drop in to see one speaker, or stay all day. Availability of seating may be limited at some of the talks.

‘There are three things we touch upon every day that greatly impact the world around us: fuel (energy), food, and fashion. The first two are now wholeheartedly studied and worked upon. It is now fashion’s turn to inform and dazzle us with what is possible, to provide the moral imperative to change every aspect of producing and purchasing our second skin.’ (Paul Hawken)

The MA Fashion Design and Textile Design Interim Exhibition opens on the same day, showcasing our MA students’ work in progress, highlighting non-waste, zero-waste pattern cutting and sustainable design.

Agenda for the day:

11.00 – Start of the forum

11.05 – Julian Payne, Creative Director of De La Rue – and designer of the Jane Austen bank note! Talking about cash.

11.45 – Sarah Klymkiw, educator, researcher and campaigner from TRAID – Can We Fix Our Reationship with Clothes?

12.30 – Zoe Olivia John, lecturer, researcher and co-founder of Engage by Design, presenting her Strategies for Sustainable Fashion and Textile Design.

13.15 – Lunch

14.15 – Sarah Hellen, menswear designer, lecturer and researcher. Talking about her collaborations with local, independent, sustainable businesses in Wales.

15.00 – Katie Jones, knitwear designer mixing playful aesthetics with serious ethics. Talking about the two sides of sustainable fashion that relate to her brand.

15.45 – Catherine Weetman, Director of Re-think Solutions, and author of A Circular Economy Handbook for Business and Supply Chains. Talking about fast fashion and the circular economy.

16.30 – Kate Langham, lecturer and researcher, and formally Creative Director of Interface, recognised as one of the most sustainable businesses worldwide.. Talking about Interface’s global rebranding project and the development of Mission Zero.

17.15 – Charty Durrant, ex fashion editor of Vogue, The Sunday Times, and Fashion Consultant and Ethical Fashion Expert, ending the day with a call to arms, offering some groundbreaking new solutions for fashioning the future.

18.00 – 20.00 Drinks, networking and Private View for the MA Interim Exhibition. All welcome.

#wsa_sustainabilityforum

Samson Soboye/WSA Collaboration

A selection of Year 2 Knitwear for Fashion student work went on sale in Soboye’s Shoreditch based boutique during London Fashion Week last week and at the Colour Walk exhibition at Old Spitalfields Market, London.