Graduate Fashion Week, Strong Striking, but does it need a wow factor?
Features | Amar Thapen | June 11, 2005Battersea Park became a haven of budding new talent on the verge of venturing forth into the ‘Real Fashion World’. Four days of graduate shows, showcasing the labour of four years of hard work. With 19 colleges showing some 25 collections each, there was a lot to see, and unfortunately a lot to be missed.
All in all the week was a success; I am sure to the joy of this year’s new sponsors River Island. Having taken the title from Topshop many in the tent hinted towards the fact that it was better to have River Island because not 
The main concern of Graduate Fashion Week and for the graduates themselves is where does it take them? Where can they go? Although GFW received a nice press turnout it was still relatively thin on the ground, not to mention the sheer cost colleges have to outlay for these shows. Do students really go on, or do they get stuck in limbo? According to various colleges including Northumbria and London College of Fashion some 80% do make it into employment so there is hope.
Why haven’t we heard of the next Galliano, McQueen or McCartney? Well mainly because designers go in as execs in already established houses such as Calvin Klein Louis Vuitton etc.
Was there a next “someone” in this GFW? Well no not really, there was however a definite leaning towards commercial appeal, which will undoubtedly benefit with placements, but we are back to the age old dilemma - can fashion be fashion if it’s commercial, or is real fashion about grand ideas? There was definitely no lack of superior cuts and imagination. Innovative ideas in knitwear and menswear were present throughout. Sadly however there was a distinct lack of Avant Garde, which can be seen to show lack of imagination.
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I just want to say that I loved GFW i thought it was fantastic, I loved the collections by some of the Uclan fashion students they were really different some were a little commercial but I loved sarah stanleys collection it was beautiful as was the african collection. I think Northhampton was dragged out, it was farrrrrrrr to long and quite frankly overated, some of the collections were average and had been seen before! LCF always good.But I believe a lot of the uni’s up north do dont get the credit that they are due and its a huge shame because most of the students in the north are british and no disrespect to foreign people but the majority of the london uni’s are full of foreign students as the uni’s get twice the student fee’s, foregive me but isnt the whole point of London Graduate fashion week to showcase homegrown British talent?! we need to support British talent or else they will end up in other countries studying fashion, we need to keep them here and support them. Thanks.
please could you add this link as a fashion talents data base
please could you add this link as events for the arts in london paris & new york