QiuYu Wu

 

"Looking back at memories and scenes from the early 2000s through my mother’s photo album, I became drawn to the constant sound of sewing machines running inside small garment workshops and the quiet endurance of female workers. This led me to explore that period more deeply, particularly the position and transformation of female identity and women’s social roles within working environments at the time.

I began considering how fashion could support this kind of visual expression, drawing inspiration from both industrial workwear and the self-expressive Harajuku styles that emerged in Japan during the early 2000s. I wanted to combine two contrasting clothing languages that carry completely different meanings. Workwear, originally designed purely for functionality and durability, embodies an industrial visual language through protective fabrics, reinforced construction, and practical tailoring, while also symbolising order and uniformity. However, as women moved through these environments, these garments gradually began to take on new meanings. In contrast, Harajuku fashion represented a form of self-expression for Japanese youth, not limited to women alone. On the streets of Harajuku, clothing became a radical tool for expressing identity. Layered silhouettes, vibrant colours, and unexpected styling transformed everyday dress into something playful, individual, and rebellious.

This collection explores the meeting point between these two worlds: the discipline of workwear and the freedom of street culture. Through exaggerated silhouettes, layered constructions, and unexpected details, traditional garments associated with labour are reinterpreted to express both strength and individuality. As women’s social roles continue to evolve, the collection asks: what happens when the language of labour uniforms meets the language of self-expression? Can workwear transform into a new symbol of female autonomy, presence, and identity?

Lightweight tulle fabrics and grey suiting-inspired textiles reflect my exploration of these two contrasting styles. Through the use of ruffles and hand-made pleating techniques, I create layered and alternating textures and forms. Sleeveless smock-like structures, apron silhouettes, and tailored shirt collars all extend the visual language of women’s workwear, bringing richer silhouettes and a wider range of colour and material expression into the designs." QiuYu Wu

Leonardo Martines I

Leonardo Martines's wonderful textures experiments in weaving and crochet. 

Hazel Gilroy

Hazel Gilroy's collection 'In Communication' combines wonderful designs drawing on historic workwear and knitwear, creating functional wearable garments. 

Catriona McLean

'Suited', created as part of Catriona's studies at Gray's School of Art. Is a collection built around characters who exist outside the boundaries of conventional society. The collection weaves together fashion, textile, and costume design to dress the complex, layered lives of those who reject, or have been rejected by, the mainstream. Drawing on themes of rural life, femininity, masculinity, queerness, and creative freedom, McLean interrogates how far the definition of suiting can be stretched when placed in the hands of self-expression. With a strong grounding in materiality and historic referencing, each piece is rooted in real life, art, and cinema, asking what clothing becomes when it is freed from its role as a tool of standardisation.

Catriona McLean

Catriona McLean's beautiful wearable collection for her graduation show at Aberdeen. 

Nikola Dzigda

'Where I walk' graduate collection by Nikola Dzigda.

" I remember as a teenager that my paternal grandfather once said, " women with skirts can run faster than men with their trousers down" as a sexist joke. Walking and sometimes running in the hills in a skirt is a revalation. An exercise in rare freedom. I urge you to try it. Trousers can bunch and pull on thighs, reining in the limbs and muscles, but a skirt is all space. A skirt is a modest, but commodious, version of a birthday suit. It seems to me that a skirt also holds promise of a different sort of material understanding: the same stretch of land seems altered when you navigate it in a skirt, you notice different things about it. A skirt is a kalidoscope, it brings different things into view. Isn't that what we need? to see the world more fully?" Nikola Dzigda

 

The Material Heart

Currently on display in the small gallery of the London Museum of Fashion and Textiles  (until 13th September 2026) are two private collections of 'Pin Stuck Cushions' made by soldiers for loved ones waiting at home. Known as ‘sweetheart pin cushions,’ the cushions were mostly made for mothers, often as Christmas gifts, by soldiers serving on the front line during their leisure time.

The heart forms were available as kits and decorated with pins, along with military insignia, images of the monarchy, tiny objects, photographs and embroidered designs, some with deeply personal and symbolic meanings. Some Victorian cushions, made in various shapes, were crafted from red uniform cloth. Many would become treasured memorial objects.

The ones exhibited were passionately collected by Simon Costin, the Director of the Museum of British Folklore and the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic and subject specialist Alessandra Curtis a British-Italian folklorist.  

Susan Aldworth

Susan Aldworth's exhibition 'Belongings' is on at Edinburgh Printmakers Workshop until June 28th and it is simply perfect for our times and perfectly beautiful. 

The installation features 35 individual embroidered and printed antique clothes. Suspended in mid-air, they highlight the transitory and emotional nature of an uprooted life, as Susan brings her personal family history of being uprooted and migrant.

'In 1924, my grandmother – Luigia Berni – left the small town of Bardi, in Northern Italy, for a new life in London. She was 23 years old, newly married and carrying a small baby. She was travelling alone. In her small suitcase, alongside basics for her and the baby, was her grandmother’s linen nightdress which got passed down to each generation.

Belongings takes you on an immersive journey through the imagined contents of Luigia’s suitcase to re-create her experience of migration. Thirty-five items of antique clothes are hand-embroidered with family photographs, stories and recipes. Suspended in mid-air, they highlight the transitory and emotional nature of an uprooted life.

Today, global migration and forced displacement are at a record high. In the UK, despite a rich history of positive migration impacts, hostile policies and increasing experiences of racism and discrimination have made it difficult for many of the people who migrate or seek sanctuary to feel that they belong. Despite these challenges, migrants and sanctuary seekers contribute to and are immensely enriching to our communities – culturally, educationally, economically, and through their work experiences and skills.

What might Luigia’s story a century ago have in common with those newly arriving today? How does it feel to leave your home forever in 2026? What does it mean to belong in the current moment, for people seeking sanctuary in the UK?' Susan Aldworth