Fashion

Destined for big things, this next generation of fashion-forward creators are setting themselves up for a future of boundary-busting design.

Fashion: Lune Kuipers. Writer: Laura Hawkins

Inspired by an ancient Chinese poem that depicts a silent natural scene before an ensuing storm, Sijia Wu’s collection, imagined in ceramic-inspired shades, features pieces that are delicately falling apart, with dry flowers, coffee and tea rolled into the fabrics.

Would most like to work with: Faye Toogood

Shoes, €895, by Santoni Edited by Marco Zanini

Raphaël Caron took inspiration from 1960s and 1970s New York for his menswear collection, with this leather coat nodding to a piece worn by David Byrne at club CBGB. Its feather trim riffs on exuberant images of the city’s nightlife captured in Veretta Cobler’s New York Underground 1970-1980.

Would most like to work with: Raf Simons

Shoes, €895, by Santoni Edited by Marco Zanini

‘In a situation of desire the feet point directly at the object of attraction,’ says Jo Cope, who kept analytical journals about feet for her MA graduate collection. This piece, which suggests two people making tentative romantic manoeuvres, was formed from hand-stretched red leather.

Would most like to work with: Tracey Emin

Australian designer Zoe Champion’s collection, inspired by the death of her grandmother, features knitted creations sporting digitally glitched family photographs. Secondary yarns are embedded into her pieces, ‘playing on the idea of memories embedded in garments’.

Would most like to have worked with: Azzedine Alaïa

‘Loriano’ crushed velvet fabric in Steeple Grey (circle), £71 per m, by Romo

Mundane materials may have inspired Halina North’s designs, but the results were anything but. Her creations, made from recycled plastic bags and paper, won the Hilary Alexander OBE Trailblazer and Christopher Bailey Gold awards at Graduate Fashion Week.

Would most like to work with: Stella McCartney, JW Anderson

Shoes, £380, by Church’s. ‘Linara Chamois’ fabric (circle), £38 per m, by Romo

Silhouettes incorporating kitsch deckchairs, shower curtains and umbrellas were inspired by trailer parks and Caroline Ingeholm’s childhood. ‘An umbrella can make us irritable because it gets caught in things,’ she says. ‘But it is also beautifully structured with a great purpose.’

Would most like to work with: Kenzo

 Shoes, €770, by Santoni Edited by Marco Zanini. ‘London Stone’ Estate emulsion (on floor), as before

Nodding to photographer Bettina Rheims’ Chambre Close, a series of portraits of women in various states of undress, Charlotte Knowles’ lingerie-inspired collection, featuring underwear that has been spliced and reordered, brings hidden details stage centre.

Would most like to work with: Viviane Sassen, Harley Weir

Federico Cina based his menswear collection on the pressure of participating in the Osaka Bunka Fashion College exchange programme. ‘Wrap, fasten, bundle, choke, pinch,’ he says of the tightened silhouettes, which were crafted in gabardine, poplin and puffy swathes of leather.

Would most like to work with: Marni, Jil Sander, Prada

‘Loriano’ crushed velvet fabric in Steeple Grey (circle), as before

As part of her creative process, Danish designer Mathilde Krab Nymann recorded a mug in free fall and its fatal crash. Her menswear collection includes a white denim jacket, which initially appears complete but is actually disconnected parts put back together.

Would most like to work with: Hussein Chalayan

The colourful illustrations in Kohei Nishi’s designs were inspired by a visit to a classical music concert in Vienna. ‘The idea was to unite music with the body,’ says Nishi. His silhouettes evoke the widening form of a double bass case and were pieced together in patches.

Would most like to work with: Yohji Yamamoto