Liberty Bramall I

This Peter Rabbit from The Tales Of Beatrix Potter is part of Liberty Bramall's graduate collection for ECA Performance Costume.
Liberty's attention to detail and exquisite craftsmanship is a joy to behold. including the surface design of the jacket lining fabric and blouse, details like the carrot buttons, felted vegetables on the hat and the tufty fur poking through the trousers, hand embroidery and flocked carrots.

The distinctive, anthropomorphic characters from Beatrix Potter's famous Edwardian children's stories have been reimagined for a modern audience. The use of oversized millinery, padded silhouettes, and hand-drawn prints capture a sense of playfulness and humour. The designs are a nostalgic nod to the comforting childhood world that Potter created.

Harriet Ogden I

Harriet Ogden's graduate collection at the ECA performance costume show featured designs for Madam Butterfly. These designs were incredibly elegant, displaying stunning craftsmanship including incredible acoustic handmade porcelain tile beads, that sang in a clear chime as the model moved. The underdress was indigo perfection using techniques of sashiko. Harriet has obviously used this project to learn and master various skills such as Shibori and Sashiko and has gone on a fantastic journey of development culminating in some exquisite work.

"Cultural inaccuracies and stereotypes are commonly associated with portrayals of Puccini's opera and this fuelled my exploration into Japanese culture. Allowing me to interpret the story by adding realism while simultaneously infusing modernity. Research into Japanese 'folk' clothing and it's production methods has instilled my final costume with authenticity." Harriet Ogden

Lucy Hutchcraft II

This year I modelled at ECA for Lucy Hutchcrafts' Performance costume graduate collection alongside Josh Going as characters from 'Cluedo'.

I was Mrs. Peacock, feathery elegance from the stunning hat down to the toes of the shoes, to match the dapper green, velvet suited Josh Going as Mr Green. 

"These costumes were created for an immersive theatre experience based on the much loved game 'Cluedo' from the 1950's. Staged in a warehouse space with a se designed similar to the board, audiences would be amongst the comedic 'whodunit' action. Was is Mrs Peacock, in the study, with the candlestick? Or Mr Green, in the library, with the revolver?" Lucy Hutchcraft

Mr Greens' costume had incredible details hidden everywhere, clues to be discovered. The lining of the jacket has the Cluedo floor plan printed on it. His tie had details from the floor plan and the cufflinks were made with the tiny weapon place markers from the game, whilst the handkerchief placed the blame on Mrs. Peacock with 'Candlestick' printed clearly for everyone to see. Unfortunately his briefcase reveals his guilt bursting open spilling forth money and the murder weapon for everyone to see. If you missed the performances you can see all off these creations at the ECA degree show from June 2-10 2018 and the work of Josh Going (Mr Green) in the Landscape Architecture display.

Klara Landin Larsson II

This is Klara Landin Larsson's costume depicting the dystopian world of George Orwell's 1984. I loved this wonderfully disturbing costume with its fantastic headpiece of listening ears and velvet dress which showed every twist and turn of the dancer in this years Performance Costume show at Edinburgh College of Art.

 "A contemporary dance piece stylistically and musically inspired by the absurd and grotesque Butoh dance, this show will contain elements and characters from the source novel, although taking dramaturgical liberties transforming the piece into a more abstract interpretation of the world of George Orwell’s classic. Setting it as a dance piece allows my designs to be of a more conceptual nature, less tied down by the weight of the iconic – and by now slightly tiresome - aesthetic described so well in the novel, making my interpretation operate in an entirely different world to Orwell’s one.

Keeping notions of class, hierarchy, and politics in mind, my designs are influenced by our contemporary society, and our view on fashion in relation to these aforementioned themes. However, most importantly none of my designs follow a strict template of the aesthetical nature of the piece, but are rather determined by the individual traits and contexts of that one character in question, to create a dynamic line-up of characters that clearly exist in the same world, while maintaining their individuality and recognisability." Klara Landin Larsson 

Bethan Nadine

Bethan Nadine's graduation collection, at Grays School of Art Fashion Show, 'State of Mind' was a delicate collection of intricately embroidered and embellished tops in sheer fabric with bold kaleidoscopic printed skirts.

State of Mind‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty – That is all / ye know on earth, and all ye need to know’John KeatsThe natural world led Keats to formulate a concept he called ‘negative capability’ or the capacity of a person to experience ‘uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact or reason’.  In the natural world we can put aside our personal certainties and simply respond to the colours, patterns and textures we see, feel and touch without superimposed discipline of cultural norms or distractions of our binary and technological 21st century existences.In the natural world, in the hills and mountains where I like to run, this physical freedom can also provide different creative expression of the landscape around me.  There are no rules here.  The landscape is abstracted.  My source material is organic, shifting and my exaggerated colours more vibrant than any real moorland.  Swirling lines and shapes that hint at mountain sides, rivers and living things are representative.  There is no order in repeat patterns.  In this state of mind my initial designs are intuitive and free, simply an emotional response to nature.  A state of mind and a way of seeing. Bethan Nadine

Tilly Longworth

Tilly Longworth's graduation collection was especially wonderful in the setting of Trinity Hall due to the juxtaposition of the men in the portraits and the men modeling her collection and in-particular the 'big puff' jacket above.

"My graduate collection was inspired by a trip I made to London during summer. I was very interested in the music youths were listening too (grime music) and the culture behind it. I could see a relationship between some of the lyrics being used in the music and my own life growing up on a council estate in Dundee. Grime artists tend to always represent where they come from in their music, so I decided to do this my own way, within my textiles. I observed the youths on my estate and the environment. My aim was to manipulate the ‘hype beast’ market making my own brand of clothing for the youths using my name as the logo." Tilly Longworth 

Rachel Louise Duncan

Rachel Louise Duncan's bright, fun, pastel, asymmetric knitwear caused lots of smiles at Grays School of Art Fashion Show last weekend.

My collection is called 'Soft Geometry' and is inspired by playful environments and structures such as play parks, climbing frames etc. I wanted the collection to be exaggerated, playful and childlike yet comfortable, in order to portray my perception of childhood and nostalgia. Rachel Louise Duncan