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.

Holly Fulton, one of CFE’s Venture designers, reflected on CFE’s role in shaping and supporting her successful label:

“It can be quite a solitary experience when you start your own thing and the CFE gives you a nurturing environment amongst your peers to help you realise your vision realistically.”

She offered advice to emerging designers:

“Stick true to your vision, prepare yourself for the commitment and learn to manage criticism; it is a demanding industry and you need to be prepared to cope with that and let your passion show.”

Venture designers have accumulated £20million in sales turnover since 2007. Using the strength and success of previous years, CFE now looks to continue to realise great fashion ambitions for great fashion talent.

• Centre for Fashion Enterprise
• Watch the CFE 10th Anniversary Film 

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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

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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

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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.

Nicole had previously had her animations featured in SS Fashion Week in 2012. She reflected on how her skills and style have developed over the past year:

“When I was asked whether I would like to create the London Fashion Week animations again in 2013, I felt that I better fitted ‘the big boots’ of the task. One reason for this new found confidence is due to studying MA Fashion Media Production.”

She commented upon the significance of LCF to her success:

“If you walk around here with open ears and open eyes, you can only become better at whatever you want to do in a very short amount of time.”

Her playful animations also featured on London Fashion Week’s official website and social media channels.

Nicole Markhoff, MA Fashion Media Production

• Video by Nicole Markhoff for London Fashion Week AW13  

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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

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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.

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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.

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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
   

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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.

Bethan Alexander, Course Director MA Fashion Retail, emphasised the importance of these exciting trips in creating the next generation of retail professionals:

“The Italy study tour enabled students to fully understand the complexities of managing fashion retail and its supply chain from concept to consumer. Visits like these really enrich the learning experience by bridging fashion retail teaching with contemporary practice and we aim to continue to embed them as part of the MA Fashion Retail experience.”

Students particularly enjoyed seeing the sampling process from beginning to end at Bottega Veneta’s sampling unit where they learnt about the luxury brand’s two iconic weaving techniques: infilato and intreccio.

They also enjoyed contrasting the Excelsior store which works with local artists to create unique concepts for its community of clients, and Milan’s most famous department store, La Rinascente.

Dina Solomon, MA Fashion Retail, reflected on what she had learnt from the trip:

“The trip made me realise that to have a successful and long-lasting business, you need to cater to individual culture and consumer needs and have something special and exclusive to make your business stand out.”

• MA Fashion Retail

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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.

The exhibition will feature work from two projects, the long-term project, Dream Sequence, and the pair’s project, Alpha, which originated as a cover story for unorthodox fashion magazine, Vision China, and was inspired by Zaha Hadid’s Galaxy Soho in Bejing.

Stella was drawn to work with Madame Peripetie as they share an interest in exploring different approaches of beauty and aesthetics in fashion photography. She said of the collaboration:

“It’s a constant process of pushing borders and exploring unknown areas. It’s quite intense and sometimes exhausting, but in the end we always find ourselves one step forward and sometimes even above our initial expectations.”

Imagery from both projects will feature as part of the ‘Artwork’ showcase, curated by the award-winning post-production facility Glassworks London, during an exclusive private view in May 2013.

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

• MA Fashion Media Production

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