Inés Lacruz, a final year BA (Hons) Fashion Design student, has had her collection featured in Drapers magazine as one of the year’s most promising students at Graduate Fashion Week 2021.
The feature, which appeared both online and in print, showcased students creating work in a challenging in year with the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. After moving online in 2020, the article celebrates the return of Graduate Fashion Week 2021, highlighting the best student work on show.
Inés’s collection is inspired by the 18th century traditional costumes of her native Spain, and the way they were represented at the time by artist Francisco Goya. She has reimagined traditional design elements into contemporary clothing, including fan-detailed trousers and sleeves, and embroidery inspired by her grandmother’s lace "mantilla" headpieces.
Image: Proposed collection line up, Inés Lacruz.
It has been a challenging year for Inés, who has spent time between her home in Spain and university accommodation in Leeds, waiting and preparing for lockdown announcements. Learning to work digitally and with limited resources she overcame these difficulties to be celebrated as one of Drapers’ emerging talents.
She said: "Having my collection featured in Drapers was especially exciting because it's such a personal project. It's great that, even in this globalised world, different cultures (like the Spanish one, in this case) still get to be celebrated."
Image: Embroidery samples of images from Los Caprichos, Franceso Goya. Inés Lacruz
Graduate Fashion Week celebrates its 30th anniversary with a return to a physical event, held on 12-18 June at Coal Drops Yard in London's King's Cross. Run by charitable organisation the Graduate Fashion Foundation, the event showcases work from graduating BA students from across the UK. Selected students from the University’s BA (Hons) Fashion Design will be taking part in the GFW Collective Show which will be live streamed on the Graduate Fashion Week website on Wednesday 16 June. Register for access here.
Image: From graduate collection by Inés Lacruz.
