Three of our BA (Hons) Fashion graduates will be hosting a pop-up shop within Lambert’s Yard store from Tuesday 23rd until Sunday 28th June.
Designs by Grace Johnson, Marissa Ellis-Dokubo and Lara Way have been hand-selected by Lambert’s Yard retail director, Adam Jagger. Lambert's Yard will also feature a loop of all the Fashion graduates' films and their lookbooks.
Adam Jagger says, “Lambert’s Yard is hugely committed to working with fashion courses in the region, bridging the gap between study and career success. This is a rare opportunity for the public to purchase a unique garment from one of the potential fashion leaders of the future. The standard of design and tailoring by all the graduates was incredible but Grace, Marissa and Lara’s collections were outstanding and, commercially, they sit well against the established independent designers we already stock.”
This year’s work is, as ever diverse; the collections have springboarded from a connected narrative from each student which defines their individuality. Tailoring is becoming more and more embedded in collections with an awareness of contemporary fashion and using a broad range of colour composition.
Sam Hudson, Programme Leader BA (Hons) Fashion at Leeds College of Art says, “The partnership between the fashion degree programme at Leeds College of Art and Lambert’s Yard is very exciting.This pop-up retail event is one example of how Lambert’s Yard support our future fashion creatives; it’s a great opportunity for our recent graduates to showcase their work and experience the next process in the supply chain, from design and manufacture, through to being directly involved in the considerations and logistics around positioning a fashion product within the retail environment.”
Grace Johnson specialises in womenswear and during her course undertook internships at MaxMara, Marks & Spencer (Head Office/Buying) and New Look (Head Office/Buying)
Her work placement with MaxMara was the inspiration behind her collection, where she was inspired by the healthy gym lifestyles of the girls who worked there. Following the emerging trend of fashion combined with gym wear (the likes of Sweaty Betty) she took this concept forward with the aspects of tailoring, attention to detail and finishing, using functional fabrics and a self-designed digital print taken from images of superfoods and smoothies.
This is Grace's collection.
Marissa Ellis-Dokubo also focused on womenswear for her graduate show and interned at Red Alert as part of her course. Taking her dual heritage British / African, Marissa synthesised the two elements translating into youthful womenswear collection.
Using cotton batik fabric prints and traditional pinstripes to reflect this duality through fabric, the silhouette is reflected through contrasting tailored silhouettes, such as the classic white shirt, and voluminous blanket inspired stripes. The russet colour palette nods to the African landscape, with the indigo representing a commonly used dye in African prints.
This is Marissa's collection.
Lara Way, specialising in womenswear, undertook her internships at Winser London and digital magazine, Get the Gloss.
Lara’s collection is inspired by Matisse’s papercuts, by taking abstract shapes informed by Matisse’s work into pattern pieces that have been moulded onto the body / taking 2D abstraction into 3D form. The blue hues have been hand dyed to represent the Matisse blue. The collection demonstrates how abstract shapes can inform pattern cutting and 3D form can seamlessly merge with commercial block based pattern cutting and tailoring techniques.
This is Lara's collection.
Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) Fashion pop-up at Lambert’s Yard
Tuesday 23rd until Sunday 28th June 2015
Lambert’s Yard, 162-163 Lower Briggate, LEEDS, LS1
