BEAUTY: Clothing--Central Saint Martins MA

The MA fashion program at Central Saint Martins has produced a truly staggering amount of talent, and as Sarah Mower at Vogue says, the college's "MA graduates are the backbone of London fashion, and have been for years": Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Stella McCartney, Riccardo Tisci, Sarah Burton, Kim Jones, Grace Wales Bonner, Simone Rocha, Hussein Chalayan, Craig Green, Mark Fast, Paolo Carzana, and Harris Reed. That is quite a (partial) list and it's growing as we speak.

So for London Fashion Week currently underway, the MA program's graduate collections were a delight to see. There is an exuberance to what fashion and design students create while still in a safe space. There is a willingness to go out on a limb with a concept or idea, no matter how unfeasible or unsellable it seems. I recall when I was in an interior design program many, many years ago that the most fun I had was creating interiors for completely made-up clients... I was able to do whatever my imagination could dream up. Of course this is not so in the real world: I now have clients with their own needs and preferences. And designers too, must please investors or shareholders and produce things that will sell, not just fantastical works of art. So while still in school, these students get to create fantastical works of art and I am thankful for that.

There were many students and many collections, but what caught my eye was the mix of pattern and age in the work of Benaissa Majeri...her pieces looked like a post-apocalyptic Dries Van Noten. And Kai Ghattaura's fascinating collection entitled "Seminomadic" was filled with reworked and upcycled pieces featuring South Asian prints and colors. And Finnerty Mackay (who took home the L’Oréal Professionnel Creative Award at the annual Central Saint Martins MA Fashion press show) unexpectedly combined an historical sense in wool tailoring (I love the cut away jackets, especially the one with the pleated skirt) with rubber and latex shirts, socks, and shorts! Mackay said his collection was inspired by addiction: "I was interested in looking at it as a queer man," he said. "Substances are everywhere, especially in London. It’s such a part of the community and so many people’s lives. I wanted to look at it as a social problem, instead of a political problem."

Benaissa Majeri

Benaissa Majeri

Kai Ghattaura

Kai Ghattaura

Finnerty Mackay

Finnerty Mackay

https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/central-saint-martins
https://www.instagram.com/flirty.lollypop33
https://www.instagram.com/kaighattaura
https://www.instagram.com/finnertymackay

BEAUTY: Clothing--Central Saint Martins MA Graduate Show

The fashion school of London's Central Saint Martins has produced some astonishingly great talents, including Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Riccardo Tisci, Stella McCartney, Craig Green, Katharine Hamnett, Charles Jeffrey, Zac Posen, and Gareth Pugh. And for London Fashion Week, the MA graduates showed some wonderful, fresh designs for their Fall Winter '25-'26 graduate collections.

A trio of Asian designers stood out for me...

Jake Zhang created a collection based on athleticwear but added odd geometric shapes and foam padding of unknown purpose, making these vaguely unsettling pieces look at once familiar and alien. They seemed like something from a Matthew Barney film...

Then Liu Xueyang showed a simple collection but with such a sense of ease and lyricism, it recalls the original way humans used fabric...as sweeping wraps and covers. Such a primal, elemental way for a wearer to interact with their garment, as not just a garment but as comfort and shelter. It only helps that Xueyang produced it all in what appears to be a soft, supple jersey knit. *sigh* Just lovely.

And finally, Zihan Miracle Liu sent out a collection clearly inspired by his Chinese cultural background, but once again, we see a designer working with fabric in an elemental way, letting it drape, fold, collect, and flow. I particularly love the mono printed images that elevate these pieces into wearable works of art.

https://jakezhang.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/xueyang.l/
https://www.instagram.com/Zihanliuzihan/