It was showtime at the University of Lancashire last week and bwd were invited to attend the prize-winning Fashion Show at 53 Degrees in Preston.  Angela and Bev went along to see this year’s collections.

Before the fashion show started, we managed to sneak a peek at the degree work first which is still on display in the Victoria Building at UCLan, Preston.  Looking at the students work, the world’s political unrest has certainly influenced many of the graduates and issues about BREXIT and the USA presidency played out in some of the collections being presented.

We are always so impressed with the standard of student work and this year’s show was no exception.  Texture, mixed materials and striking colour contrasts seem to be the flavour of this year’s collections.  The details on some of the collections are simply beautiful.

The catwalk show took place in 53 Degrees and we were lucky to be on the front row and couldn’t resist snapping pics of the amazing collections.  The standard last year was superb but this year was even better!

One of the students presenting her collection on the night had won an award at Graduate Fashion Week in London.  The London competition had asked entrants to submit work that reflected how attitudes to fashion design have changed in recent years, in terms of age, size and shape.

Caroline Bowden was awarded the Bonmarché Fashion for All Award at the prestigious annual event, which is the largest showcase in the world of graduating undergraduate fashion talent.  Caroline won for her ‘GUESS Peachy’ campaign – creating a range of jeans to fit curvy women. 

We were amazed to see how many of the collections incorporated social or political messages; hence our blog title.  One student’s collection offered up the reason for their creative direction as: “Designs are fuelled by the world’s current stage of unrest, the prints speak of different ethical, environmental and social issues’”

Some of the students had incorporated politically-fuelled messages into their collections too. We saw ‘Pull to BREXIT’, ‘Buoycott’ and ‘Missing Obama’.

As with other years, there were a real contrast of styles from pretty and flirty to street wear and also aggressive looking garments which have been clearly influenced by war-torn states and today’s political unrest.

It’s always interesting for us to check out the colour and texture palette’s as fashion always influences interiors.  Some of the colour combinations this year are really brave and we are already looking at ways in which we can introduce slate greys with accents of deep coral and primrose as well as vibrant green and blues.  Monochrome also featured strongly on the catwalk and we can already see how this will influence design directions in hospitality, retail and office interiors.  It’s great to see such talent on our doorstep.  As many of our blog readers will know, bwd often employ or provide work experience for degree students from UCLan.  The students have the talent we are looking for and they enjoy being able to work for a local design consultancy with a varied portfolio of clients.

We’ve presented a selection of our best pics from the night but we’d love to know what your favourites are.