Future Fashion Now at The V&A

On 22 May the V&A launches a showcase of work by a selection of graduates from the 2008 Royal College of Art (RCA) fashion MA. The display will feature highlights from the graduates’ final collections and ranges from an oversize handbag to a leopard print suit. It will also reveal aspects of their design process through preliminary sketches, illustrations, models and the finished garment.

Future Fashion Now marks the 60th anniversary of the inauguration of the RCA fashion programme. Since it began, the RCA has prepared aspiring designers for fashion careers. Many graduates have gone on to work in fashion houses such as Galliano, Vivienne Westwood, Chloé, Dior and Burberry. Others such as Ossie Clark, Boudicca, Julien Macdonald and more recently, Erdem Moralioglu and Carolyn
Massey have developed their own labels.

The display will feature 55 outfits as well as accessories and sketchbooks. It is divided into four sections to explore elements of the design process each student goes through.

Concept will look at the central ideas and inspiration behind the graduates’ work. A military-inspired, crystal-encrusted jacket by menswear designer Katie Eary will be shown alongside images from her preparatory sketchbook with photographs which informed and inspired the designer’s work.

Form will explore how designers transform their ideas into 3-D garments by experimenting with materials and cut. Objects such as Heikki Salonen’s sharply tailored womenswear and Nina Hjorth’s extreme high-heeled shoes will show how the designers have achieved a desired shape.

Technique reveals the ways in which the graduates create their work using both traditional and the most advanced methods such as laser cutting, bonding, digital printing and sophisticated rapid prototyping. On display will be Siri Johansen’s men’s oversize cable-knitted jumper which combines machine and hand knitting techniques as well as a padded silk dress printed with digitally-manipulated images by Iacopo Calamandrei.

Detail, the final section, will illustrate how customised fastenings, decorative stitching, jewelled embellishment or a delicate print can make a piece unique. This section includes Benjamin Shun Lai Ng’s crystal-studded footwear and Adrian Sommerauer’s beautifully detailed menswear.

The 27 Designers featured in the display are:
Elisabeth Borglin; Iacopo Calamandrei; Léa Carreño; Holly Cowan; Katie Eary; Debbie Fletcher; Lisa Hjelm; Nina Hjorth; David Hopwood; Jenny Hortlund; Liam Jackson; Siri Johansen; Gudrun Kloepsch; Murat Kuscu; Patricia Kwok; Timothy Lee; Pamela Leung; Benjamin Shun Lai Ng; Eva Nip; Jonathan Penn; Heikki Salonen; Abbie Shaw; Adrian Sommerauer; Jarah Stoop; Lisa Uhlenbrock; Helen Wilde; Lilia Yip.

Future Fashion Now @ The V&A

22 May 2009 – 31 January 2010

FREE ENTRY