On May 22 at The Dorchester Hotel, LCF’s Centre for Fashion Enterprise (CFE) celebrated its ten year anniversary along with a host of top designers, many of whom the centre has launched over the past decade.

CFE was founded by Wendy Malem, Director of CFE and LCF’s Dean of Graduate School, to support some of London’s most promising new names in creating successful and sustainable fashion careers. Designers launched by the organisation have included Basso & Brooke, Peter Pilotto, Mary Katrantzou and Meadham Kirchhoff.

Wendy reflected on the strength of the pioneering organisation, now in its eleventh year:

“I think we truly focus on individuals and invest time in understanding the person as well as the needs of the business. As a team we have a broad fashion, design and business experience and understand all the aspects that we need to focus on.”

Having helped 245 designers through its programmes, hosted 1000 internships and raised £5million to invest in designer fashion in the past ten years, Wendy made it clear that the business incubator remains enthusiastic about its core mission:

“Ultimately, we are inspired by design leadership and are excited by talent.”

Celebrating CFE’s important role in incubating and launching new sustainable talent were designers Erdem Moralioglu, Simone Rocha, Mary Katrantzou, Peter Pilotto, Marios Schwab and Holly Fulton, all of whom have received support from the CFE.
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HRH Sophie, Countess of Wessex and LCF Royal Patron, visits LCF’s artisan retreat at the Chelsea Flower Show

MA Fashion and the Environment students received a royal visit from HRH Sophie the Countess of Wessex at their Chelsea Flower Show retreat, which has been created in collaboration with designers, Story Storey.

HRH the Countess of Wessex visited the retreat which exhibits one of the students’ current projects: a Dye Garden installation using locally grown, natural plant dyes to colour fabric.

The royal smiled as she received a Chelsea Flower Show centenary t-shirt designed by LCFstudent, Katie Bowkett, BA (Hons) Fashion Textiles. HRH was named Royal Patron of LCF last month.

Following her visit, HRH joined Prince Harry, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen to tour the rest of the Flower Show.

• Read more about the MA students’ & Story Storey’s Dye Garden retreat
• Read more about Katie’s award winning centenary t-shirt
• Read more about LCF’s Royal Patron

• Photo: AFP PHOTO, Ben Stansall, Getty Images via Metro Online

Taeseok Kang: MA Fashion Artefact alum

With just over a week to go until the White Light | White Heat exhibition opens at the Venice Biennale, here’s a preview of LCF alumni, Taeseok Kang’s work which features in the show.

Taeseok graduated from the MA Fashion Artefact course in 2012 and has since set up his own fashion accessories label and has recently been working for Alberta Ferretti as an accessories designer.

White Light | White Heat is a development of Glasstress, originally conceived in 2009 by Adriano Berengo, President of Berengo Glass Studio and Venice Projects. The latest exhibition is a dramatic expansion of the original Glasstress concept, which launched in 2009, to include London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London and The Wallace Collection working in collaboration with Berengo Glass Studio.

• MA Fashion Artefact

MA Fashion Media Production student, Nicole Markhoff, had her animations featured throughout AW13 Fashion Week this spring.

Nicole’s four animations, which featured illustrations by Manolo Blahnik, were projected onto the front hoardings of Somerset House throughout the entirety of Fashion Week, forming a central part of the week’s vision.

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Students produced videos and shoots capturing their interpretation of this year’s theme, ‘Beautify’, a celebration of the power of style to generate positive thinking.

Made in collaboration with students from LCF’s School of Media and Communications, the productions showcased the artists’ hair and make-up creations.

Each student brought their individual style to their vision of the theme. Split into groups they created six projects: New Masters of Colour, Scarabaidae, Blonde Forever, Morphing Magdalene, Pop Tarts and Berlin 2013, all of which revelled in colour, empowerment and personality.

Goldwell Creative & Technical Director, William Wilson, told students: “What you’ve shown as creative people is that you don’t just turn up to a shoot and make it up – you’ve shown the journey to get there.”

The students’ work is featured on Goldwell’s youtube channel and will be featured as part of Creative Head Magazine’s newly launched app.

The students’ collection can be viewed on Goldwell’s website and will be preserved in the brand’s archive.

• View the Beautify Project video
• View the students’ shoots and videos

FdSc Spa and Management students at the Guinot Training Academy

FdSc Beauty and Spa Management first year students have made a visit to The Guinot Training Academy in Ascot. Whilst there, they received training on the Hydradermie Facial which will form part of their assessed case study this year.

Guinot also shared with them guidance on other treatments, work placement opportunities, and a guided tour of the Academy and Guinot’s flagship franchise salon.  The students also watched a demonstration of the newly launched Hydraclean facial. The first years were also treated to lunch by the prestigious beauty institute, and received goody bags.

FdSc Beauty Spa and Management receive awards

Second years studying FdSc Beauty and Spa Management have received recognition from key players in the beauty and spa industry.

As part of their ongoing assessments the students have had their written and practical work assessed by skincare experts Decleor and mineral specialists SpaFind. Students also learnt how to practise innovative Ionithemie treatment.

Students learnt and reflected upon key techniques used by these leading institutions and received certificates to recognise their success at achieving professional standards.

Lucy + Jorge Orta Antarctic Village – No Borders, 2007

Lucy Orta, Professor of Art and the Environment at LCF, will be delivering a TED talk at the forthcoming TEDxWWF conference in Abu Dhabi.

The conference, joint hosted by WWF and TED, will be based around the theme of ‘One Planet Living’ and will foster the exchange of ideas between leading campaigners, thinkers and artists.

As an artist and member at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, Lucy Orta encourages and creates ideas that lead to a more resilient and sustainable way of life. Her talk on May 21 is testament to her role as a leading thinker on how to create a sustainable future for our planet.

Lucy will discuss her work, art, and the future of the environment alongside luminaries such as Andy Ridley, the CEO and co-founder of Earth Hour.

The talk will be live streamed on the TEDxWWF website.

• Read more about the ‘One Planet Living’ conference
   

MA Fashion Retail visit Bottega Veneta

In mid-April, MA Fashion Retail students went on a study trip to Italy to explore the retail landscape of Venice and Milan and visit factories of major players of the Italian luxury market.

The three day agenda included an exploration of the shopping sites of Venice, a trip to the Bottega Veneta sampling unit in Vicenza, a tour of the factory of menswear brand Pal Zileri, and a train ride to Milan with guided visits to the Excelsior concept store and the famous La Rinascente.

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Madame Peripetrie: Photographer & Stella Gosteva: MA Fashion Media Production.

Stella Gosteva, MA Fashion Media Production 2012, will have her work as a stylist exhibited at New York’s National Arts Club this May. The exhibition, entitled Alpha & Dream Sequence, is the product of a collaboration between Stella and the photographer Madame Peripetie.

The pair founded a creative relationship when Stella approached the photographer as a collaborator on her Fashion Media Production final project. It was the beginning of a fruitful endeavour that is still ongoing.

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Survey on attendance, motivation and participation

For the last eight months we have been talking to a number of you in focus groups across courses, to hear your views on three issues which we think are central to your progression and success. From these discussions we’ve picked out recurring themes and specific statements and now want to see how the rest of you feel about them.

Your opinions are essential to helping us support you in the future, whether through educational policy, course delivery, or learning and teaching methods. All it takes is ten minutes of your time to fill out a very simple, anonymous, ‘click box’ survey, though if you want to add any further comments of your own in the free text box you are welcome to do so.

This is your chance to tell us about what motivates you to learn, makes you want to turn up and get involved in all aspects of your course at LCF.

Complete the survey 

Henrietta Adams: BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Development

In the autumn term of 2012, the UAL Estates team commissioned second year students from the BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Development course to re-design the UAL Facilities staff uniforms.

Henrietta Adams, BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Development, whose designs impressed the UAL Estates team in 2012 will now see her designs go into production. Read the rest of this entry »