SpendIt ShoppingFashionTechnology Bright futures Another year, another varied, intelligent and beautiful set of designs from eca’s fashion students, finds Claire Sawers
A Charlotte Helyar dress on the eca catwalk
BUY THE WAY News from the shop front
like
V ogue have talked in the past about the ‘Scottish contingent’ in fashion. Designers Jonathan Saunders, Jamie Bruski Tetsill and Scott Ramsay Kyle (all GSA textiles graduates) and Holly Fulton, Graeme Black and Chloe Patience (all ECA alumni) have earned Scotland its place on the fashion map. We’ve got plenty more where they came from too, as this month’s eca Fashion Show proved again.
This year’s student showcase featured an impressively broad
range of talent, including stiff, geometric pastel angles from Eliza Borkowska; luxurious
My sunglasses are from the website 80s Purple. I only arrived in Edinburgh like an hour ago. I didn’t expect it to be so sunny. I’m glad I brought them! My t-shirt is Nortwick, and the black shirt is from REI, a camping and sportswear brand.
WESAWYOU Chris Cushingham 24, model/interior designer, LA
My jacket is Coa and the pants are from Fremont, a shop back home in LA.
They gave me these shoes when I did a photo shoot in Seattle. I haven’t bought clothes in a long time. I model, so I usually get them free from fashion shoots, which is pretty cool.
16 THE LIST 13–27 May 2010
■ AFTER a long hiatus, the instant-gratification camera is back. Polaroid has launched its 300 Instant model, which takes credit-card-sized photos. Personally, we still can’t get past the misty beauty of the originals, which can still be picked up cheap on eBay, or (more expensively) at the Fruitmarket Gallery (Market Street, Edinburgh, 0131 225 2383), where they sell refurbished models (£150) and guaranteed still-working original film (£25) from The Impossible Project. Read more at www.the-impossible- project.com.
■ THIS month sees the launch of UNIQLO’s range of limited edition t-shirts, as part of a collaboration with Domino Records. Show love for Four Tet, Junior Boys, Bonnie Prince Billy or the label itself, for an altogether reasonable price of £12.99. We’re still waiting on them to open a Scottish branch of UNIQLO, but until then you can see the designs at www.domino recordco.com/uniqlo or buy them from www.uniqlo.com. ■ BASICALLY, you would just like someone to tell you – do you look hot? Yes or no? Or would your outfit be best accessorised with a paper bag over the face? A new ‘wardrobe feedback’ site lets you upload a photo of youreself posing in your ensemble, then wait for comments from other users. It’s mostly Americans though, so they probably won’t get the joke if you ask ‘Does my bum look big in this?’ www.gotryiton.com
■ INSTEAD of being added to the rubbish pile, coloured street banners from Seoul, South Korea, have been recycled into tote bags. The bright, one-of-a-kind bags, featuring snatches of Korean typography, are available from the artist and gallery- supporting LA-based design firm, Poketo. See www.poketo.com for more info.
cashmere spins on grunge shapes from Louise Holsgrove and inspired by T h e costumes Borrowers from Mhairi Graham. A lot of attention was also paid to Charlotte Helyar’s collection, designed to be seen through 3D glasses, dished out on the door. Despite the fun factor of her ‘rose-tinted’ glasses, Helyar’s designs are way more than just a good gimmick. Digitally manipulated patterns, and hand screen-printed grids of 80s prisms and spirals, gave a retro- futuristic feel to her very covetable textiles. ‘I drew a lot of inspiration from past visions of the future,’ she explains. ‘Like all those 60s films about cars that one day might even reach speeds of 50mph! I think we’ve returned to that need for escapism, and I wanted to tie that in somehow with the current trend for 3D images.’
She designed much of her collection from behind a pair of 3D glasses. ‘It was weird, that’s when you start seeing certain lines receding; others things popping out, and adding depth.’ Helyar, who trained last year with Chloe Patience and Mhairi McNicol of bebaroque, as well as Holly Fulton, reckons the college is doing a good job of growing its grassroots talent. ‘There’s real encouragement for collabor- ations, and plenty opportunities to learn from former students. That’s really helped to inspire me.’
Y E N O H A C N N A J :
I O T O H P