SHOPPING & FASHION
BOLD AGE Glasgow and Edinburgh students drew inspiration from Maasai warriors, female monsters and lace for their 2014 fashion shows. Claire Sawers pinpoints this year’s best collections
DJ,
S yrian techno from the ultimate Omar wedding-party Souleyman, and squelchy Nigerian funk from the mysterious William Onyeabor boomed out from the no- nonsense Art School’s speakers on the opening night of the GSA’s Third Year Fashion Show, earlier this month. There was a distinctly international flavour to the fashions on the catwalk too, where fashion and textile design students took inspiration from ‘world dress traditions’. Joanna Dixon (see designs, top left), a third-year print student, was drawn to the natural patterns and lace-like motifs in fungi, insects’ nests and coral for her sublime prints, and paired them with pop-out sky blues and orange-reds that she found while researching East African traditional dress.
Natasha Samasuwo, originally from Zimbabwe, and on the same course as Dixon, looked to West Africa for ultra- simple silhouettes, filled with bold patterns. Her vibrant geometric prints (pictured, right) were inspired by African costume and the (always fiercely well- styled) Maasai people. Elsewhere, Sijia Chen, from Shanghai, used fringed capes and tasselled layers for a sleek, minimal 28 THE LIST 20 Mar–17 Apr 2014
update on the clothing and Shamanist rituals of the Inuit (see above, right). Over in Edinburgh, the students won’t show their collections until the end of April, but a sneak look at their designs revealed they’re finding inspiration in everything from architectural drawings (Salwa McGill) to female monsters in 1950s B-movies (Sarah Kilkenny) and tailored religious-wear (Colleen Leitch). Leitch’s designs take a zeitgeisty look at beautiful monochrome and smoky-grey digital prints, made with silk, velvet and an unexpected find . . . rubber undercarpet slipmats. Meanwhile, Kilkenny visualised a strong woman for her designs, and is exploring feminist and confrontational takes on feminine silhouettes. Bryony Campbell looked to female activists and anarchists for her collection, with the working title ‘Keep Your Boobs On/It’s the Tits’ looking at how underwear and outerwear can play around with notions of nudity and conformity.
The Edinburgh College of Art Fashion Show takes place at McEwan Hall, Edinburgh, Wed 23–Fri 25 Apr, 6.30pm and 8.30pm. Tickets are available from hubtickets.co.uk