The Liner, The Clutch and The Wardrobe

These days, East London is as much associated with Agyness Deyn, neon and edgy fashion as it is Dot Cotton, cigarettes and tabards, so the graduates of the University of East London had a lot of expectation to live up to when exhibiting their final collections at Graduate Fashion Week this Monday.

There was a vintage feel to many of the East London collections. Lucia Homolioakova combined feminine forties tailoring with sexy, veiled pill-box hats. Irredescent fabrics, and textured rouching on blouses lent the collection a modern feel and brought it up to date. Julia Reimann added a vintage feel to her collection, which featured oversized, nineties jackets, with burlesque style structured bodices and tassles. The colour pallette, which was limited to peach and black, also added a classic, vintage feel.

Following it's outing at Henry Holland's Spring/Summer 08 show, Tartan made an appearance in more than one of the East London collections. Katy Burnett used the print on a hooded coat, as well as to add texture to preppy blouses and feminine dresses. Sasu Ehanire took a more traditional approach to Tartan, using it to create mid-length, billowing Kilts. Natalie Jacobs, who wrapped the fabric around models to create jagged hemlines, teamed Tartan with heavy military jackets, and stiff hats to create a tougher edge.

Esme Davies brought plenty of colour to the catwalk with her folky collection that included both short and long empire line dresses (pictured) that alternated panels of black with red, blue and white candy stripes printed with bold floral detail. Colourful floral embroidery on bodices heightened the folk-gypsy feel of the collection further.



Image Kirsten Borst - Courtesy of FabSugar UK