Supporting the future generations of the fashion industry, those who will move this industry forward, is the entire raison d'être for Erebus. It is always great to sit through the shows and visit the stands of Graduate Fashion Week here in London. Graduate Fashion Week is the worlds largest showcase of graduate fashion degrees. Every year, there are exhibitions, shows and workshops with guests like Henry Holland, Gok Wan and Hilary Alexander. Graduate Fashion Week brings students from around the world to one massive showcase.
We were at nearly all of the shows this year. Throughout the next couple of weeks, you can join us in the front row and see the amazing work from the graduates of 2017.
First up, De Montfort University in Leicester.
Darren Scott's collection had some very bold prints on shapes that were an amalgamation of street, casual and urban attire.
While shades of black or usually more our style, this year, colour was definitely on our radar. Sophie's bright colours on solid white were bold without being over the top. The movement of each piece was very eye-catching.
The details of Allarna's collection caught my attention. The colour palette through to the stripes and hand-painting put this collection near the top of our list for the show.
Sometimes, the collections shown at Graduate Fashion Week are less about wearability and more about the students showing their skills. Here, Rosie shows her skills in working with knitwear.
Hannah's was definitely our favourite menswear collection of the show. While many of the pieces were not entirely commercial in the way they were styled for the show, there were a great many which, on their own, you could see in high-end shops.
Again with the colour! Ahnees' collection was so strong, her prints were stunning, the movement of the garments was inspiring, every piece was a standout.
Bethany's collection landed her in the Best of Graduate Fashion Week show. While her collection didn't really speak to us overall, we couldn't argue about her skills with a knit.
Imogen, like Ahnees, has a mastery with fabric and colour. Her technique where she's used thread to look like a print added an extra dimension her pieces.
This style pocket on tops was a trend we saw throughout the week (you can tell these universities use some of the same sources for their trend research). Charlotte says her designs recall the urban identity, and the Space Bags and fragile tape must be how this comes to be.
This dress was the strongest piece from Lauren's collection.
There are always quite a few collections making some sort of political statement, this year is no different. Eleanor's models had political slogans printed on panties you could see through the back of their skirts.
Raabia's was another favourite of the show. Everything from the details to the prints and the shapes show that Raabia has a bright future in the industry.
Abisola was another choice for the Best of Graduate Fashion Week by the judges. While it wasn't to our taste, we can see how the judges were impressed with this African-inspired collection.
One thing we loved about De Montfort was that there's was a more inclusive show. While all of the other schools chose their top 12-20 students to show a full collection, De Montfort let the rest show one look each. We won't show you them all, but here were our favourites.
We're always looking out for the pieces that could be commercial and this outfit from Tarun fits that bill.
Without the bags, this piece would be totally wearable!
It is very easy to go wrong with too many prints and techniques in a single piece, fortunately for Francesca, she pulled it all off.
From the front, Laura's pieces are just interesting takes on casual knitwear, until the model turns around and you see "And WHAT?" in the knitting!
Thank you to Jason from De Montfort University for the images.