Fashionista Magazine

Graduate Fashion Week (GFW) featured the absolute cream of talent in this country as Universities around the UK displayed the work of their finest students. In it's 18th year, GFW is where companies, talent scouts, trend spotters and fashionistas go to check out the up and coming talent. I saw shows by Nottingham Trent, UCA Rochester, UCA Epsom and Manchester Metropolitan University and the collections I saw were pretty much on par with those at London Fashion Week. My favourite part of GFW is wandering round the exhibition and checking out the portfolios, sketchbooks and publications created by the students. There is some amazing work displayed here and more importantly you get an idea of the thought process of the student when they were working on their collection. Wednesday saw the galas take place where Claudia Schiffer, Matthew Williamson, Dylan Jones and Lorraine Candy presented awards to the most promising students. Myrto Stamou from UCA Rochester took home the Gold Award as well as the award for Womenswear. Thursday was the last day and it was Education Day where students who are looking to break into the industry could pick up information about fashion courses and careers. There was also a careers clinic which was hosted by the so cool it hurts, Caryn Franklin with a panel which consisted of established people from the fashion biz; where they answered questions about how to get into the industry. I said hi to Susie Bubble who was blogging away at her stand and I bumped into Disney RollerGirl in the press office.

I picked up a copy of Fashionista which is the official magazine published for GFW and packed with lots of information about getting into the industry. When I was starting out in my career all that was on offer were a few leaflets, there were no magazines let alone a cool and stylish one like Fashionista. The magazine is written by fashion students from UCA Rochester and edited by Hannah Kane and put together by Piers Atkinson, hat maker and editor from Disorder and Dennis Maloney. This gem of a publication features an interview with current darling, Hannah Marshall, a look behind the scenes at Elle, diaries by interns at magazines such as Bliss and Absolute Brighton, Sunday Times Style magazine and TheFashionScout.com. All the tips that are needed for getting into the fashion business are presented in a really cool way that is accessible as well as fun. Information and entertainment mixed together.

Graduate Fashion Week 08

Our new bumbling Mayor, Boris Johnson has vowed to get rid of the bendy buses that were introduced by his predecessor, Ken Livingstone and bring back the old double decker Routemaster. Along with many, it took me a while to warm to the new bendy buses and I was very sad to see the Routemaster get phased out. Bold, bright, retro and highly fashionable, the Routemaster epitomises London in full effect. So how befitting is it that the ingenious lot from University of Westminster have hired a bus to show off their final year student's work at Graduate Fashion Week (GFW). While other Universities stuck to exhibition stands and tables, this establishment that boasts Vivienne Westwood and Christopher Bailey as former students stood out from amongst the trainee fashionistas. The bus is not just popular with me because it has also been turned into a restaurant aka bustaurant in Shoredicth. Rootmaster is a quirky eatery that serves tasty dishes and scrumpy snacks.

Now back to Graduate Fashion Week which is now in its 17th year. This magnanimous event was launched to celebrate the creme a la creme of the graduate fashion talent in the country. The event is on par of London Fashion Week (although not as snooty) and attracts scouts from the corner of the globe who are in search of the next Stella McCartney and Julien Macdonald. I took a trip down to Earls Court over the weekend to check out GFW 2008 and I was not disappointed. As usual it was mecca of creativity and talent which left me feeling very inspired and excited.

Graduate Fashion Week

On Monday I woke up with a migraine and had the sudden urge to stay in bed all day. I had planned to go down to Graduate Fashion Week (GFW) to see the collections but my head was saying different things. However, temptation got the better of me, I figured that the fresh air as long as the innovative ideas that I would see at the event would do me the world of good. I was not wrong, a few hours and two paracetomols later I was at Battersea Park Arena along with my press pass and goodie bag feeling revived and very inspired. I did have to pinch myself that I was at the right event because the last time I went to GFW it was a low key affair with a few portfolios on display. Today GFW is a huge event that attracts high profile sponsors such as River Island, Revlon, L'Oreal, Pringle and magazines like Cosmopolitan, Company and Glamour. In fact the event is highly acclaimed as one where you find the latest talents in fashion; Stella McCartney got her break here a few years ago along with Alexander McQueen, Julien MacDonald and John Galliano.

At the exhibition what I saw before me were magazines, business cards, posters, brochures, bags and other promotional merchandise that were produced to an amazingly high standard. Battersea Park Arena was filled with a buzz of excitement, expectation and amazing energy and I am so glad that I made it down. The first show I saw was the University of the Creative Arts which featured everything from hoodies, monochrome designs and tailoring. After that I grabbed Nwannie who was working hard backstage dressing the models for that show and we headed to the press office for some lunch. I must admit I was very impressed with the press office at this function, they served non stop food and plenty of drinks. It was also decked out with cosy sofas, fancy tables and wifi where the grande dame of fashion journalism, Hilary Alexander was seen looking rather stressed. In fact the treatment of the press at GFW was commendable; we were ushered into each show without having to queue and were allocated front row seats. This is a far cry to London Fashion Week where we have to queue for ages in the cold and even when we get in we have to stand. It will certainly be a shock to go back to that. As well as seeing vibrant and wonderful collections we met some characters along the way such as a young man from a glossy magazine who was taking pictures with his camera phone. In the press room we got chatting to a journalist from menstyle and we also met some great guys from Disorder magazine who were lots of fun. It was a truly gratifying day and I am still blown away by the amount of talent that is produced in this country and I just hope all of them find jobs in the area that they wish. Picture taken from Graduate Fashion Week website