Young Fashion Entrepreneur 2011 Kasuni Ratnasuriya with her award.

London College of Fashion is delighted to welcome Kasuni Ratnasuriya, winner of the British Council’s Young Fashion Entrepreneur award 2011.  This prestigious prize, which celebrates the importance of creative entrepreneurs working in the field of fashion in Sri Lanka, was awarded to Kasuni by the British Council in partnership with the Sri Lankan Design Festival.

As the YFE Award 2011 winner, Kasuni has been given the unique opportunity to attend a tailor-made study tour of the UK. One of her first stops will be here at London College of Fashion. During her day, staff will be offering their support and expertise and will introduce her to our extensive network of industry partners.

• For more information about the partnerships that LCF has with Sri Lanka click here

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10 LCF students from BA (Hons) Fashion Contour course have been shortlisted for the Triumph Inspiration Award 2011. Voting is now open to decide the UK winner.

This worldwide lingerie design competition curates the most innovative and inspirational lingerie designs, and offers a prestigious platform to showcase them to the world.

This is the first year that Triumph has collaborated with London College of Fashion, which is competing against other renowned design colleges. All students have been invited to prove their creativity and expertise to design a collection to represent “125 Years of Celebrating Women”.

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The 'Emilie' by Emily Lamb Shoes. Image credit:Brian Sweeney

24 year old Scottish shoe designer Emily Lamb has been nominated for a Scottish Variety Award 2011. Lamb, who graduated in 2008 from BA (Hons) Cordwainers Footwear Design launched her own business six months ago with her debut collection of elegant 1920s art-deco inspired shoes, offering seven different styles.

Lamb has been nominated for a Scottish Variety Award in the Best New Scottish Designer category alongside four other contemporaries. Speaking about her nomination, Emily commented:

I am so excited to be nominated for ‘Best New Scottish Designer’. It feels like a bit of recognition for all the hard work I have put in this past year, setting up my label. I am very proud. Now I just need to win it!

The awards recognise young Scottish Talent in Scotland in 2011 and are supported by The Scottish Sun and Radio Clyde 1 – both of which are asking members of the public to vote for the winners on their websites.

After graduating Lamb worked for a custom shoe design studio and prior to setting up her own label, approached The Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust, successfully securing funding from the BT Scotland Young E-treprenuers awards scheme, which supports young people in e-commerce to boost their start up business.

• To vote for Emily Lamb to win the Best New Scottish Designer award, please click here
• For more information on Emily Lamb’s debut collection click here

JW Anderson Womenswear AW11. Image Credit:Marcus Tondo / GoRunway.com

London Fashion Week is a highlight in any fashion calendar and with each season, we can’t believe the number of amazing LCF graduates debuting or returning to showcase their collections to the fashion elite.

Here we bring you a roundup of the freshest LCF talent breaking into the fashion industry at London Fashion Week – including most recent MA Fashion Design Technology Menswear graduate Asger Juel Larsen, who went straight from showcasing his collection on the catwalk at the 2011 MA Catwalk show on 2nd February to showing as part of Vauxhall Fashion Scout’s Ones to Watch Men on 23rd February.

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LCF students from the BA (Hons) Fashion Contour course have been invited to compete for the first time in the Triumph Inspiration Awards – the world wide lingerie design competition.

2011 is a special year for Triumph as it marks their 125th anniversary. In celebration of this momentous occasion Triumph International, one of the world’s leading lingerie and shapewear brands, has invited young students to compete in the industry-leading Triumph Inspiration Awards for the fourth year.

The Triumph Inspiration Awards curates the most innovative and inspirational lingerie designs and provides a prestigious platform to showcase them firstly on a national level, then secondly on a global level.

This is the first year that Triumph has collaborated with London College of Fashion, competing against other renowned design colleges. All students have been invited to prove their creativity and expertise to design a collection to represent “125 Years of Celebrating Women”.

Deborah Minshall, Course Leader, BA (Hons) Fashion Contour said:

London College of Fashion is delighted to have been invited to take part in the prestigious Triumph Inspiration Awards, which will give our talented BA (Hons) Fashion Contour students an amazing opportunity to showcase their designs to a global audience.  The theme of ‘125 Years of Celebrating Women’ has been an inspiring brief which has given our students a platform to demonstrate their creativity and utilise the specialist skills they have learnt on the course.

The glittering national final to select the UK representative will take place on Thursday, 31 March 2011 so check back here for more news and updates soon! Good luck LCF!

Image Courtesy of Illamasqua

London College of Fashion students have joined forces with cult British beauty brand Illamasqua to create a pop up installation in the heart of London’s West End at 8 Kingly Street, London W1 from Wednesday 2nd – Saturday 5th March 2011.

Never ordinary, always extraordinary, Illamasqua challenged LCF students to use themes of sustainability and recycling to create a striking display to demonstrate “warpaint against mediocrity”.

Illamasqua launched a make-up Amnesty during the summer of 2010 to “Ditch the make-up drudgery and embrace the extraordinary.” Customers were encouraged to bring any product from any brand to their local Illamasqua counter to trade in for any Illamasqua piece of their choice, at a discount.

LCF students creating Extraordinary Creatures using Illamasqua products. Image Credit: Ella Storrier

LCF students from BA (Hons) Make-Up and Prosthetics for Performance are re-using the dull, the average and the ordinary make-up items that were discarded by customers during the Amnesty to create a beautiful installation.

Extraordinary creatures, designed and created by the students using Illamasqua products, will be found skulking and prowling around the Kingly Street installation every lunchtime between 12:30pm – 2:00pm and evenings from 5:00pm – 6:30pm.

Visitors to the area should also watch out for these otherworldly characters taking a daily journey to the Illamasqua flagship store on Beak Street, via Carnaby Street and the surrounding areas from 1st March 2011 to claim an exclusive 15% discount at the Illamasqua store.

Here at London College of Fashion we can’t believe that Vogue.com has reached it’s fifteenth birthday. Over the years Vogue.com has been at the forefront of helping to break new talent from LCF – here is just a small selection of the stories that have featured our amazing graduates over the years.

• Jena Theo - London Fashion Week: Jena Theo Time
• Manjit Deu – In the Harrods Spotlight
• Laura Queening and Rob Goodwin – Best Foot Forward

Amber Le Bon Models William Tempest AW11. Image courtesy of William Tempest.

• William Tempest – Phoenix From The Flames
• Asger Juel Larsen – Boy Scouts

Asger Juel Larson's collection on the catwalk. Image credit: Catwalking.com

• Nicole Murray, Hasan Hejazi and menswear label Baartmans and Siegel – Harrods Launches
• Ada Zanditon – Going Solo
• JW Anderson – Anderson Antics
• Michela Carraro – Michela Carraro Fashioning The Future
• Ioannis Dimitrousis - Ioannis Dimitrousis Spring/Summer 2010
• Beatrice Boyle – Beatrice Boyle For Browns Focus
• Li Lee – In Full View

• To join Vogue.com on Facebook click here
• For more Vogue.com 15th Birthday celebrations and party pictures click here

London College of Fashion is proud to announce an exciting new collaboration with high street retailer New Look to create our very own footwear collection to be sold in store.

Students on the MA Fashion Footwear course have been tasked with designing a collection consisting of six styles across shoes, boots and sandals which will launch in March 2011 as ‘The London College of Fashion Collection for New Look’.

Judging which designs are put through to final production is an inspiring list of fashion heavyweights including designer Giles Deacon, footwear designer Jonathan Kelsey, New Look’s Group Design Director Barbara Horspool, Director for Footwear and Accessories Malcolm Collins, Senior Footwear Designer Fiona McGuire, Head of Buying – Footwear and Accessories Helen Bleazard as well as LCF’s Professor Roy Peach, Dean of the School of Graduate Studies.

All the students are currently undergoing a rigorous judging process which takes place in two stages, after which the winning designs will be chosen. The winning students will play an integral role in the craftsmanship and production process and the overall winner will have the exciting opportunity to travel overseas to see their designs being made.

Keep checking our website for further updates and to see which students make it through to the final stages!

See what the press have been saying about the LCF and New Look Collaboration:

• FTape
• New Look Blog
• MA-Zine
• Fashion Monitor

image: dazeddigital.com

Six designers, currently in or about to start their first year at LCF  and Central Saint Martins, put together a collaborative show ‘Fashion For Show’ at The Rag Factory just off London’s Brick Lane and showcased three looks from each participating designer in April.

All students graduated from the Access to HE Diploma (Fashion) (previously know as Fashion Portfolio) at LCF and are now studying their BA’s at LCF and CSM.

Read further coverage on dazeddigital.com