Graduation collection Xiaowen Ji

AMFI exhibition stand

From the 5th till the 10th of June London was the centre stage for Graduate Fashion Week. This event was launched in 1991 and is a forum to showcase the very best BA Graduate fashion design talent in the UK. Since 2008 it has also showcased work from International colleges. The vision of this event is to support and promote the talents of tomorrow, ensuring the future will continue to be filled with creative innovators of fashion who inspire the world of fashion.

In the exhibition there were 52 courses from 50 UK universities plus St Petersburg, Marangoni Milan and Paris, La Salle Singapore and AMFI. As well as the static exhibition stands there were twenty-two inspiring fashion shows, including for the second year in a row, an international show.

In the International show AMFI presented the collections of five of this year’s graduating design students, Bram van Diepen, Bram Bekker, Laura Kirchner, Xiaowen  Ji and Lynne Langeveld. After the show Xiaowen Ji and Bram van Diepen were approached by the London College of Fashion and asked to apply for a Masters course with the possibility of a scholarships worth 15.000 pounds. A big honour for these two students.

 

Graduation collection Bram van Diepen

Thirty-six students from the Royal College of Arts’s prestigious School of Fashion also presented their collections during a show to press and industry on during Graduate Fashion Week. Among the thirty-six students were two 2007 design graduates from AMFI, Philipp Schüller and Saskia Schijen. Philipp’s collection was an explosion of colour and texture; fur, rubber and tulle melded together in fun neon-hued jackets and mini dresses. Saskia’s collection, which was sponsored by COS and Limonta fabrics, was a homage to denim with baggy jeans with panels of various faded denim and sporty mesh tops. Immediately after the show I tried to talk with Saskia but she was being interviewed for a job by Diesel!

In all it was a successful week for AMFI marching up the catwalks of London.

Text by Leslie Holden (Head Fashion & Design department)