Students cut it with the greats (From Bournemouth Echo)

Students cut it with the greats

7:00pm Tuesday 30th June 2009 in

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IT could have been a scene from any haute couture catwalk in any fashion capital of the world.

And yet these cutting edge creations were not the work of Stella McCartney or even Julien Macdonald, but the portfolios of a talented team of young designers at the Arts Institute in Bournemouth.

The event held at the Royal Bath Hotel, was organised and funded entirely by the students who recently took part in London Graduate Fashion Week (LGFW) last month.

“This year we had a shared show at London Graduate Fashion Week so only eight out of 20 designers were able to exhibit their work,” explains fashion graduate Lucinda Reed, who helped organise the Bournemouth show last Thursday. “So it was very important to us that everyone got the chance to showcase their hard work, too.”

Students organised a number of fund-raising events throughout the year to cover the cost of the Bournemouth Graduate Fashion Show, estimated to be around £5,000.

All of the 36 models – many of whom had never set foot on a catwalk before – gave their time for free and sashayed before the audience in an array of designs ranging from the sublime to the outlandish, often in eye-wateringly high heels.

Designers included Harald Helgesen, who is rumoured to have caught the eye of both Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen at LGFW. His work has also been featured in an industry magazine and he won the Swarovski award at the International Festival of Fashion & Photography in France.

Fellow graduate Line Wack Edal, who specialises in women’s wear, was also one of the students who got to showcase her work at London Graduate Fashion Week.

She said afterwards: “It’s a brilliant opportunity for me to showcase current work to future employers. It is also a great arena for networking with other graduates and professionals in the fashion industry.”