Tag Archives: University of the Arts London

Phoebe Claire Riley – green man and silver birch costumes and other such things

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Phoebe Claire RileyPhoebe Claire RileyOver this year I have been following the University of the Arts London Showtime site – in effect a market-place for their students of fashion, art  and design to share their works with the world.

At a time when they are still developing their art and finding their muse as it were. I will be interested to revisit some of these posts years, hopefully not too many years, from now to note how many of them have gone on to fame and fortune. It is important afterall that their art is seen by the widest audience possible – what good is art and fashion if no eyes ever alight upon it save the artist’s and close friends and accomplices.

Not that I am under any illusion that this humble blog of mine will contribute too much to their fame or fortune either – but who knows what post will go viral and what sink into the cyber-void…

Of course there is fame and there is fame, there is fortune and there is fortune. Only time itself will reveal whether they are the next Alexander McQueen, the next Sam Taylor-Wood.

The artist that caught my eye this week was Phoebe Claire Riley. She has a BA Honours Degree in Costume for Performance. I have always had a liking for costume design and consider it a pity that its leading exponents are not better known and courted, shunned instead for their more glamourous haberdashery clan-members of Couturiers and Ready-to-wear Designers. 

Phoebe Claire Riley

Hansel & Gretel, The Witch

Their work is more famous than they are but then perhaps that suits too – letting their work grab the limelight while they go quietly about their business unbothered by intruding microphones and camera lenses.

Their work for example quietly appearing in many a period film or TV costume drama – too many to mention – but what a gift Jane Austen has been to their tireless trade! Not that all costume work is 18th Century Gentrified Fashion I should quickly add!

So with Phoebe Claire Riley it is her work that may get more of the media attention than she herself.

There is but a brief biography of her on the showtime site thus:

I am an aspiring costume designer and a competent and creative maker and supervisor.
I enjoy working collaboratively and I am keen to learn and develop my skills further within employment.

And what a difficult time to be seeking employment too.

Though her bio is brief interestingly and perhaps instructively the tags she gives to this page are not – there are many and I am not going to list them all as you can see them for yourselves save just to list some of the more intriguing ones – Facebook like, St Exuperry’s King, conceited, Hansel and Gretel, costume cora, prunesquallor, boiled sweets – whether these tags resonate with you or are just too opaque I do not know!

On show is a sample of her work and her inspirations. I present a sample of that sample.

I shall do my best to keep up with her work – even if this might mean squinting through the rolling credits!

Phoebe Claire Riley

Cheeta's Fuchsia, Titus Alone, the Gormenghast Trilogy

Sandhya Garg – a party of bold colours

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Sandhya Garg

Sandhya Garg Kathputli Look 1

Kathputli Look 1

Sandhya Garg Kathputli Look 3

Kathputli Look 3

Sandhya Garg is another alumni of the London College of Fashion, specifically a BA Honours Degree Graduate in Fashion Design Technology Womenswear.

Her Graduation collection along with its development work and illustrations are available to view on the University of the Arts London Showtime website.

I do not know much about Sandhya Garg – I sought her on Google and Facebook and could not find her here, I sought her on Twitter and LinkedIn but could not find her there!

I only have to go on what she says about her collection on the Showtime page. Her training was at the Alexander McQueen Design Studio and Alice Temperley.

Sandhya Garg Nina De York 2011 Finalist Illustration

Nina De York 2011 Finalist Illustration

She was a finalist in the 2011 Nina De York Illustration competition – again I do not have any further information on this event – Google you are letting me down here!

Sandhya Garg Kathputli Look 6

Kathputli Look 6

She describes the use of vintage techniques to hand-craft her final collection, in particular the hand-crafts of India. Going on to say that these intricate crafted techniques are then juxtaposed with blocks of bold primary colour.

The tags she uses for her collection are interesting and as insightful as her prose desription – these included hand-made crochet lace, vintage silk draw-strings, turban twist jacket, crystals, transfer print and pagri construction.

I posted yesterday about Mary Katrantzou and her bold statement ready to wear courtesy of creative print designs. Sandhya Garg has also produced a bold statement ready to wear collection – this time with colour.

As noted I do not have any more information about her but hey a picture speaks a thousand words and here come a mess of them!

The photography is by Vikram Kushwah, the model is Nimisha Desai.

Sandhya Garg Drawstring Detail

Drawstring Detail

University of the Arts London – Showtime for Samuel Way

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Samuel Way London College Fashion Rangeboard

Rangeboard

Samuel Way London College Fashion Green Shoes

Don't step on my green suede shoes

Samuel Way is another cordwainer Graduate from the London College of Fashion.

Another that is in the context of my last showtime post about Min Jung Chae.

Samuel Way London College Fashion Rubber Duckie shoes

Rubber Duckie

In that post I commented that women’s shoes were in general a lot more creative and innovative then the more sober and conservative men’s shoe.

Samuel Way’s footwear designs are certainly not conservative, very definitely an exception to that rule.

He has a BA Honours Degree in Cordwainers Footwear, more specifically in their product design and development.

His Spring Summer 2012 collection is inspired by his own childhood nostalgia and uses very bold colours and block designs.

In his own words ‘… a menswear collection inspired by re-collective memories, themes like cartoon characters, board games and other childhood related products that I still feel nostalgic about’.

In this Showtime collection he worked toward this with a comical and toyish looking footwear.

All his shoes are hand-made.

Though this collection is focussed on men’s shoes he also produces women’s shoes such as a Jimmy Choo and H&M collaboration.

He now works as an apprentice for design company BSV International based in London.

I look forward more of his bold and creative footwear.Samuel Way London College Fashion

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University of the Arts London – Showtime for Min Jung Chae

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Min Jung Chae London College Fashion

Min Jung Chae London College Fashion

Wedding Shoes

Following my Showtime post on Yashin Kim is a post on another South Korean graduate, Min Jung Chae.

She is a graduate too of the London College of Fashion – her degree though is in Cordwainers Footwear Design in addition to a BA Degree in textile fashion design from her home country. The London College of Fashion itself absorbed in 2000 the Cordwainer’s Technical College, its most famous alumni being Jimmy Choo.

I love shoes – not in a fetishistic way you understand! Especially women’s shoes – Men’s shoes I like too – Brogues, Oxfords, Doc Martens but, the latter not withstanding, the degrees of design difference between them is minimal – suggesting that in shoes at least men are the more conservative of the sexes.

A woman’s shoe is a much wider structural design platform – where not just craft and science is at work but art and magic. And art plus magic equals beauty – oh yes it does!

As part of this blog I did consider one of those No Comment features where daily I would include just a picture of a pair of shoes – from the aforementioned Jimmy Choo, Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, Kate Spade and on…no words as what more needs to be said – perhaps I still will – I will likely find they get more hits than my posts with words do!

Min Jung Chae is hoping to follow in their luxuriously heeled footsteps. She cites architectural and engineering structures particularly suspension bridges in terms of movement and harnessed restraint, whilst at the same time producing shoes that remain restrained and feminine.

The page which showcases her work as well as pictures of her shoe productions also include the development works, inspiration sketches and thought processes behind the designs.

I find her shoes both romantic and innovative.

I look forward to seeing more of her cordwainery in the future.Min Jung Chae London College Fashion

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University of the Arts London – Showtime for Yeashin Kim

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Yeashin KimYeashin KimFollowing my University of the Arts London showtime posts for Cherica Hayes, Rebecca Litchfield and Max Dovey is this one for Yeashin Kim, from its London College of Fashion.

Yeashin Kim is undertaking a BA Honours Degree in Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear. She is from Seoul, South Korea currently living in London, England.

Her fashion pieces are multi-coloured and inspired by the sea – in particular corals and tropical fish.

In her own words she believes that fashion is an art and its designers artists. She states that she wants to inspire joy with her works and cites inspiration in this from the Rococo period (late Baroque – art as an end in itself – art for art’s sake) and Antoine Watteau (one of its French practitioners)

Yeashin KimShe states that what she cannot communicate in words she can in textiles. Finishing that she completes her work not just with her hands and eyes but her mind too.

She already has an award to her name, the WGSN Global Fashion Awards 2011 for Most Creative Student Collection.

Her work has been featured in Vogue and Glam along with a number of blogs.

I have not been able to find a website for her or her works. She does have a Facebook page – though the option is to befriend rather than to follow!

Showtime presents a lot of photographs of her works if not in any narrative form. They do though give you an idea of Yeashin Kim’s work. In addition to images of her works there are images of her inspirations such as tropical scenes and several Rococo art works – though sadly no details about the particular paintings. The standing man in clown suit I discovered through online research (yes I used Google Images!) is titled ‘Pierrot’.

I share the belief of Yeashin Kim that Fashion is Art – or that it can be – and certainly consider her works as art.

And so enough words – let the fashion speak for itself.Yeashin Kim

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The Emotional Stockmarket – Love Makes the World Go Round…

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The Emotional StockmarketEmotional Stockmarket GraphLove and Happiness are on the up, Sadness is in a slump – so reads The Emotional Stockmarket.

The Emotional Stockmarket is another University of The Arts Showtime venture – this one has part of their Summer Shows 2011 season where as you might imagine we are able to visit the shows, meet the artists and see their works. Such as this Emotional Stockmarket from Max Dovey as part of his BA in Fine Art from the Wimbledon College of Art.

Unfortunately this particular show was open to the public for one week only in June 2010.

The idea is to measure Happiness, Sadness and Love based on Twitterfeeds – the instances of tweets mentioning the words Happy, Sad and Love! This I think is something that could have been sustained on the website if they were so inclined?

I note that they include Sad with the Happy but not Hate with the Love. Perhaps though we would expect when Love is peaking Hate to be troughing but perhaps not – as both heartfelt emotions can be experienced simultaneously by different groups of people and similarly when both emotions are in a trough indifference reigns – perhaps I am thinking about this too much?!

During the June week that this market ran I checked my own tweets to see if any of mine would have contributed and lo one did – I wished all my followers a Happy Summer Solstice. All of my 16 followers! I use Twitter to talk to myself! And so my musings into the void got picked up afterall!

I guess if they were so inclined they could have regional emotional stock-markets – or even country by country – to see where the worlds happiness hotspots are!

Or by gender – are men or women the happier people – I really am thinking about this too much!

Are there other emotions they coud track? Hope and despair? Ennui? Pride? Fear? Jealousy? Or do all of these get swept up under their umbrella triumvirate of Happy Sad and Love?

I wonder too the comparison of the Emotional Stockmarkets with the equity and bond stockmarkets – would the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 and the USA’s S&P 500 etc correlate – should we expect happiness to be tied in with material wealth?

Okay – I have ran with this idea enough – any more legs you can give it?!

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University of the Arts London – Showtime for Rebecca Litchfield

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Rebecca Litchfield Warrior Bird of Prey Death

Rebecca Litchfield London Calling

London Calling

Rebecca Litchfield has a Master of Arts Degree in Fashion Photography from the London College of Fashion. As with my post regarding Cherica Toshiba Haye her work is also available to see on the University of Arts Showtime site.

Her last name may be a curse or a blessing but she is no relation to famous British Royal photographer Patrick Litchfield, himself a pioneer of digital photography.

You may already be familiar with her works without being aware of her name – she is published in a wide range of print and online media including fashion and photography magazines like Vogue and Professional Photographer Magazine, and online for the New York Times, Time Out and Trendhunter among many others sites – and on Katie Melua album covers for good measure.

She has her own website where her portfolio can be viewed along with her blog.

She has a number of awards under her belt and appeared in various exhibitions.

I find her photography very visually striking and accomplished.

All of the photographs are titled to give you some direction as to their subject – though most are impressionistic despite their striking clear clean visuals leaving us to make our own minds up.

One titled London Calling – whether inspired by the BBC World Service calling-card or English Punk Rockers The Clash and their 1979 song of the same name – or innocent of either and inspiration elsewhere I found very appealing – I want that matching telephone and tea-pot!

Another called Death – Death looking seductively attractive! Another called Life – looking more ghostly twilight and closer to Death than Life. And Death is not the end here – there are Dante like muses of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory.

Others titled Warrior are more self-explanatory. Another simply called ‘There’ – I could not find any piece titled ‘Here’ or ‘Everywhere’…is that Beatles song now an obscure reference – I’m not sure!

She now works as a fashion and wedding photographer.

Hopefully you will enjoy her works as much as I do.Rebecaa Litchfield There Life Warrior

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Artsmart – Tomorrow’s Talent Today – another University of the Arts London venture

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ArtsmartI posted a few days back about Showtime, a website that showcases the graduate works of the University of the Arts London. Artsmart is yet another venture of theirs of a similar spirit – held today and tomorrow you are able to view the graduate works in person and buy them too at affordable prices. Arsmart is held in London as a two-day event in their words to celebrate and support creative talent. Fittingly the London site is next to Tate Britain.

Miriam Robertson Millinery

Miriam Robertson Millinery

A list of their alumni stalls – one-hundred in total – can be seen on their market-page and which is divided into five categories of Applied Arts; Fashion and Textiles; Fine Arts; Graphic Arts and Product Design.

These alumni themselves were shortlisted from a long-list of over four-hundred applicants. The panel responsible for the short-list are Karen Ashton of Art Car Boot Fair, Kate Bonhôte and Kristjana Williams of Beyond the Valley, Medeia Cohan-Petrolino of University of the Arts London, Ben Evans of the London Design Festival and Doug Richard of the School for Startups.

Betty's Revenge - Market

Betty's Revenge - Betty at the Market

Most of the alumni listed provide links to their websites.

One such alumni is Miriam Robertson Millinery. They produce both day-wear and occasion-wear.

Another alumni is Undergrowth Design who produce a wide range of products from salt and pepper shakers through glassware and cutlery all the way to bespoke chairs.

Of a similar surreal spirit is Betty’s Revenge with her giant-sized purses which are actually trolley-bags (and still giant sized!).

Undergrowth Design Tea Cup

Undergrowth Design - Blaue Blume Tea Cup

The wares are displayed and in some cases available to purchase online but for those of you fortunate enough to be in the London area today and tomorrow you have the opportunity to get up close and personal with the products – and perhaps even to touch some of them!

Yet another imaginative and enterprising venture from the University of the Arts London promoting Britain’s up and coming creative design talent.

University of the Arts London – Showtime for Cherica Toshiba Haye

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Cherica Toshiba Haye JacquardThe University of the Arts London shares the works of their artists and designers on its Showtime website.

This is an effective way of demonstrating the skills and techniques of their students and providing a potentially global audience for their works at low cost.

It was disappointing though the lack of interaction offered on these showcases – no option to leave feedback let alone share with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

One of the many showcased is textile designer Cherica Toshiba Haye of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.

Her collection is called ‘Chimera‘ and she describes her inspiration for this collection as nature in the form of birds and flowers and an exhibition of Imperial Chinese Robes from the Forbidden City at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Her textile work focusing on weave (inc Jacquard), embroidery and print.

Her work is very visual and tactile, the latter not ideally suited to experiencing on a computer screen – as the search for ever more realistic and immersive viewing only extends to the visual and audio senses with touch and smell neglected!

Nevertheless the showcase provides us the opportunity not just to see the outfits modelled but also to see the materials used – including silk and mohair – up close and in detail.

Please go see for yourself.

Cherica Toshiba Haye Silk Dress