LCF is proud to announce LCFM, a brand new initiative showcasing new collections from emerging menswear designers, all of whom are LCF alumni with expanding businesses. LCFM, which sits alongside London Collections: Men, the first showcase of its kind in London to celebrate emerging and established menswear brands, presents Asger Juel Larsen, Matteo Molinari, Domingo Rodriguez and Oliver Ruuger showing their S/S 2013 collections to buyers and press for the first time. Through LCFM, LCF is setting the bar for supporting and nurturing British trained designers who represent the future of menswear. Professor Frances Corner OBE, Head of LCF said,

LCFM marks an exciting new phase for LCF. We know that our menswear alumni are amongst the best in the world, we also know the financial climate is making it even tougher for emerging designers to break into the fashion industry; which is why London Collections provides us with the perfect opportunity to present these inspiring young designers to the world stage and help propel them and their fledging businesses to even greater success.

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Nicol Vizioli Shadows on Parade

MA Fashion Photography graduate Nicol Vizioli is exhibiting her work at the Arts Gallery, High Holborn.

Born in Rome, Nicol Vizioli graduated from MA Fashion Photography with first class honours in 2011. Her work has been exhibited in Future Map at the Zabludowicz Collection and was shortlisted for the Sony World Photography Student Focus Awards. It has also been exhibited as part of the 15th Biennale de l’Europe in Greece and Vizioli will be represented and SCOPE Basel later this year.

Beguiling, unsettling and evocative, Shadows on Parade reveals new photographic works by Nicol Vizioli. Opening on 17 May at the Arts Gallery, Holborn, Shadows on Parade unveils for the first time Vizioli’s complete series of works probing mythology and dream sequences, including new works specially created for the exhibition. Commenting on her work Vizioli states:

I can only honestly show people the way I look at the world, the way I approach the language of photography. I am not interested in documenting the reality around me; the only reality I am interested in is the one that all the creatures I often meet suggest to me, the one I see when I close my eyes, almost sleeping. The only real thing I know is the sharp need I have inside me, that most of the time I don’t know where is leading me. My research is focused on the wide range of human forms and different beauties I find and see.

17 May – 29 June,
Arts Gallery, University of the Arts London, 272 High Holborn, WC1V 7EY
Monday – Friday 11am – 6pm. Nearest tube Holborn

• MA Fashion Photography information
• More information on the event
• Nicol’s LCF Showtime profile
• Nicol’s website

The Copenhagen Summit main hall

LCF’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion attended The Copenhagen Fashion Summit, the world’s largest conference on sustainability and fashion.

During the events, LCF was praised for its work with the fashion industry. Two recent MA Fashion and the Environment graduates were singled out - Katie Ledger and Emma Rigby (now an LCF PhD student) – as well as the work of Helen Storey, Kate Fletcher and i-Sustain. Another current student, Coco Noordervliet, was also on stage and spoke as part of the Youth Fashion Summit.

The Youth Summit brought together 80 fashion students from across Europe, including six from LCF’s MA Fashion and the Environment, to vocalise demands for the fashion industry. The proceedings were led by Peter Ingwerson of Noir and Day Birger & Mikkelsen and Dilys Williams, Director of Centre for Sustainable Fashion, in conjunction with KEA Copenhagen School of Design & Technology.

• MA Fashion and the Environment course information
• Read more about the Copenhagen Fashion Summit

coeur s | s 2012 - contra mundum

coeur is the new and exciting menswear lifestyle label launching spring/summer 2012. The brainchild of London College of Fashion graduate, Peter Jeun Ho Tsang, this unique brand combines luxurious silk jacquard fabrics woven in England, with bold colours, soft tailoring, and quirky design details to generate a playfully preppy collection. Setting it apart from other menswear labels, coeur is giving the modern day dandy a nod in the right direction.

The playfully preppy brand is launching its online store at www.coeur.uk.com – the men’s slim cut clothing and neckwear range with 100% brand exclusive silk woven in England can now be purchased online. The store comes just in time for those needing to update their spring / summer wardrobe with a bold, colourful, and ever so luxurious range.

coeur promises to launch new products each week as well as give us exciting editorial updates jam packed with features such as style tips, where to take a jaunt in London, and for those culture buffs, fashion films filled with visual feasts of dandyness. It’s already bookmarked in our favourites!

• Peter Jeun Ho Tsang on Showtime
• MA Digital Fashion

Fashion Editor at Vogue and LCF’s very own alumna, Francesca Burns hardly needs an introduction. A CV spanning i-D and Love magazine, Francesca’s career is at the peak of its journalistic success. But how did it come about? In an interview with The Business of Fashion, Francesca talks about her early days at Business Law school before she realised her love for fashion, her views on the growing obsession with street style and why she loves her job.

Judging by her penchant for wearing designers like Meadham Kirchhoff, Louise Gray and Mary Katrantzou, it may come as a surprise that Burns, 31, was a business law student. “I was at Royal Holloway doing business studies and honestly, I never should have been there in the first place. I was the biggest freak you’ve ever seen, walking around in Vivienne Westwood mini-kilts, huge buffalo boots and mohair sweaters,” says Burns, admitting that she landed there because of a boy she was dating. “But while I was at Holloway, my law lecturer, David Bowie, who was as fabulous as his name suggests, said ‘why don’t you go to fashion school?’ I was totally redirected to the London College of Fashion.”

• Read the original article by Katharine K. Zarrella for The Business of Fashion

Fabulae Romanae is an ambitious sculpture and video installation created by Lucy + Jorge Orta for MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome. The work was commissioned by Zegna as part of their ZegnaArt initiative, and will form part the Museum’s new display Tridimensionale.

Fabulae Romanae is supported by LCF’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion and was made possible with the assistance of LCF alumni Chloé Gayet, Mio Jin, Lara Torres, Oliver Ruuger and Sum Yu Li.

• Read more about the project
• Read more about the Centre for Sustainable Fashion

Esmerelda Turquoise A/W11

LCF alumna Cleo Barbour has been announced as a finalist  for the Best Footwear Designer of the Year in the Drapers Footwear and Accessories awards 2012.

Other LCF alumni who have been shortlisted are Nicholas Kirkwood, Kat Maconie, Charlotte Olympia and Chi ‘Cherry’ Yuen (who only graduated from MA Fashion Footwear in 2012).

The awards will be announced on 3rd May – Good Luck to all the LCF nominees!

• Footwear courses at LCF
• Accessories courses at LCF

Work from Jayden Tang

In February, the World Photography Organisation announced the shortlist for the 2012 Sony World Photography Awards. Billed as the global photographic event of the year, the Sony World Photography Awards celebrate the very best in photography from around the world, from the next generation of emerging photographers through to the established masters of the art.

2010 MA Fashion Photography graduate Jayden Tang has been announced as a finalist in the fashion category. The winners will be announced on 26th April. Following on from the winners announcement, an exhibition, showcasing the work of all the finalists, will take place at Somerset House until 20 May 2012.

• View Jayden Tang’s Showtime profile
• MA Fashion Photography course information
• Read more about the Sony World Photography Awards
• Read more about the exhibition at Somerset House

Baartmans and Siegel A/W12 Collection

If you have a new fashion label, innovative idea, product or service, the Centre for Fashion Enterprise’s Bootcamp can assist to fast-track your business to success.

Intensive and focused, we give you access to market feedback, matching you with experts who will assist in directing your strategies. They will ensure  your business idea is properly researched, developed, planned, funded and launched – thus increasing its chances of success!

There is also a chance to win a cash prize of £1,000 for the entrepreneur with the best idea pitched to the experts during the Bootcamp. The next Bootcamp will run in central London over the 15th to 17th June 2012.

• Further information and registration
• Read more about LCF’s Centre for Fashion Enterprise

Image: Baartmans and Siegel A/W12 Collection supported by the Venture programme at the Centre for Fashion Enterprise

Jena.Theo AW12 on the Catwalk at London Fashion Week

This London Fashion week saw a host of esteemed LCF alumni debuting or returning to showcase their collections to the international fashion elite.

Design duo Jena.Theo, A.K.A Jenny Holmes and Dimitris Theocharidis showed, their Autumn/Winter 2012/13 collection ‘Heavy Metal’ on the first day of London Fashion Week.

• Read the British Vogue show report

Nova Chiu, having won the coveted collection of the Year at the 2011 LCF BA runway show, was immediately picked up by Vauxhall Fashion Scout for their ONES TO WATCH. Nova’s show marked her debut on the catwalk since her graduate collection.

• Read what Rachel Oku of Creative Idle thought of the collection
• Read an exclusive interview with Nova on Pop Magazine’s blog

Autumn/ Winter 2012 by Nova Chiu. Image courtesy of Vauxhall Fashion Scout

Menswear graduate and recipient of the British Fashion Council NEWGEN sponsorship, J.W. Anderson showcased his womenswear collection which he debuted in 2010, and his menswear collection as part of the Menswear day.

• Read the interview ‘Meet Mr Anderson’ profiling one of London’s young rising stars by Rebecca Gonsalves in the Independent

Fellow menswear graduate James Long, who showcased his womenswear collection as part of Fashion East, also showed on Menswear day and live streamed his show from the BFC Live website.

• Read the Dazed Digital show report and images

Ada Zanditon, a graduate from BA (Hons) Fashion Design Technology – Womenswear presented her AW 12/13 collection ‘Simia Mineralis’ as part of the Digital Schedule at the BFC Screening Room at Somerset House, whilst also showcasing her ready to wear collection at the Estethica exhibition, the British Fashion Council’s ethical initiative.

• Read what ethical blog Ecouterre thought of the presentation and see show images

Baartmans & Siegel AW12 at Vauxhall Fashion Scout. Image courtesy of Alina Negoita, Vauxhall Fashion Scout

Baartmans &Siegel, after being selected as ONES TO WATCH by Vauxhall Fashion Scout last year, design duo Wouter Baartmans and Amber Siegel – who met whilst studying menswear at both MA and BA level at London College of Fashion – showed on Menswear Day as part of Vauxhall Fashion Scout.

• Read the Amelia’s Magazine show report with original illustrations

Joseph Turvey, having only graduated this year and showing his collection a mere 3 weeks ago at the LCF MA_12 catwalk show, debuted at London Fashion Week as part of Vauxhall Fashion Scout.

• Read what Fashion 156 made of his London Fashion Week debut

Asger Juel Larson, was the last LCF designer to showcase on Menswear day at London Fashion Week. Asger, who came through the ranks at LCF having studied both at BA level and MA level and was heralded as a ‘ONE TO WATCH’ for AW11, who is showed on the catwalk in a collaboration with designer T.Lipop.

• Read the Fashion 156 report and images

Charlotte Simpson being interviewed by Jessica Bumpus from British Vogue at the Vauxhall Fashion Scout Exhibition. Image Courtesy of Rowan Papier, Vauxhall Fashion Scout

Up and coming designers Jennifer Morris (MA Fashion Design Technology Womenswear 2011), Charlotte Simpson (MA_12 graduate from MA Fashion Design Technology Womenswear), Christina Hamilton (MA_12 graduate from MA Fashion Artefact) and Lucia Liu (BA Fashion Design Technology Womenswear 2011), were all featured designers at the Vauxhall Fashion Scout Exhibition which ran throughout London Fashion Week.

• Read the exhibition highlights on the Vauxhall Fashion Scout Daily Blog

The Exhibition at London Fashion Week – which is a carefully curated selection of 120 emerging and established accessories, jewellery and ready-to-wear designer brands -played host to an unprecedented number of ONES TO WATCH from LCF, including footwear designers Camilla Skovgaard, Kat Maconie and Joanne Stoker, all graduates from footwear courses at Cordwainers at London College of Fashion. Joining the footwear stars was accessories designer Kate Sheridan, and ethical lingerie designer Charini Suriyage, who showed as part of the Esthetica exhibition.

Fannie Schiavoni, who studied for a Diploma in Production Tailoring (now available as  foundation degree) before going onto BA (Hons) Fashion Design Technology Womenswear will showed her collection to international buyers having already gained notoriety winning the BFC NEWGEN sponsorship.  Also showcasing his collection at the BFC exhibition was Omar Kashoura, who graduated from London College of Fashion’s BA (Hons) Fashion Design Technology course in 2004 with first class honours.

Film still from Fanny & Jessy's fashion film, 'Kings', directed by Danny Sangra

Fanny & Jessy, who graduated in 2009 presented their collection as part of the Digital schedule this year under the new Fash/On Film initiative, with their fashion film ‘Kings’ being screen at the Canon cinema space.

• Watch the full length fashion film on Fanny & Jessy’s blog

All in all it was a fantastic London Fashion Week for LCF alumni, with a definite buzz about these young designers showcasing their work – we can’t wait to see what the future holds for these rising stars with very bright futures ahead of them.