Westminster Graduate Fashion Show

A couple of weeks ago, I took the express Virgin train down south to London for the day to join a very fashionable crowd who were, like me, drawn to the University of Westminster by its annual graduate fashion show.

Words & Pictures: Oliver @oliverinstead

Historically, past pupils from the Westminster have kept a brilliant track record of success – Stuart Vevers of Coach, Marc by Marc Jacobs’ Katie Hillier and Christopher Bailey from, of course, Burberry are all honorary graduates from the esteemed establishment. So besides the fact that it was a pleasant change of scenery, the prospects of previewing a new crop of fashion design talents that is sure to go on to bigger and brighter things pumped me up heaps!!

 

Lucy James, Daniel McKinley, Georgia Mottershead and Niall Cottrell were just a few of the Fashion Design BA (Hons) students who showcased their conclusive collections, wrapping up their time at Westminster and beyond, since some have already worked for world-renowned fashion houses such as Alexander McQueen, Lanvin, MaxMara and the likes.

Here are some of my favourite menswear moments: Minimalism had no place here.

Each design reflected the creator’s eagerness to show off their ability to dissect every detail to every element. The mix of vibrant colours and subtle hues in forms of sharp tailoring or full silhouette, all made for a feast of collective creativity.

 

Personally, Georgia Mottershead had my vote for the most eye-catching collection. The heavy workwear to submerge yourself and drown the lines of your figure in won the battle of the statement outerwears for me.

The designs were stunning but the choices of music were just as impressive. A good tracklist could complete a show. In Georgia Mottershead’s case, Hugo’s version of Jay-Z’s 2004 smash hit 99 Problems certainly brought the show together.

 

On a different, but not completely unrelated note, my personal highlight of the event was when the Irish reality modelling show The Model Agents’ winner, Tabea Weyrauch took her first stride onto the runway.I was not at all expecting her appearance and to see the statuesque goddess herself at work was a huge bonus! (It actually made my heart stop for a second) And if you weren’t aware before, you need to know that I’m big on models. I seek such strange pleasure in learning about their backgrounds and how they’ve come to where they are.

 

Finally, I apologise for this post taking so long… as you may well know, I’m now working full-time and as I hinted on briefly in one of my earlier posts, I’ve been working closely with a couple of brands for a very exciting project so I have a lot of my plate and I’m loving it. And, in a few hours I’ll embark on my journey to a second round of London Collections: Men so life couldn’t be more excited for me right now!!

 

Love, Oliver

*For more info and coverage, visit Westminster Fashion’s official website (here).