“You the people have the power ... let us fight for a new world”
These fragments of speech were intoned within the overwhelming musical opening of the final year fashion design students collections at Sheffield Institute of Arts. This seemed to hint an evolution of themes ready to come.
Opening the show; Geo Legate who’s dystopian themed collection, based around Orsen Wells war of the worlds and nostalgia of her childhood, whereby she would draw people into aliens. Geo made models into ‘Geopians’, models carried giant stuffed alien hands down the catwalk acting as trails for the alien inspired looks. Geo included an edge with street wear accessories throughout such as an alien hand bucket hats and bum bags intertwined into jackets . Geo described her collection as a “combination between theatrics and costumes, there's so much serious stuff going on in the world, I just wanted to have fun”.
Keeping with the escapism theme Shun Yip’s collection saw reworked workwear with an array of menswear. Models wore layered reworked gilets, shirts and extreme oversized coats. The upbeat heavy base music ran throughout the show and you couldn't help but feel a sense of power. Trending colours for this show included hues of blue, beige with the occasional pop of colour such as yellow and orange.
Closing the show was Darcy Grant with her collection inspired by Romanian gypsies. The fabrics that moved with the models were alluring. Taking a new approach to the human silhouette, Indian woven fabrics were used and manipulated into pleats. Her collection links to her ancestory history. “We face difficulties as women, I want to empower women”.
Amongst the crowd tears were shed and the cheers filled the room, highlighting the message of power behind the designers of Sheffield Hallam University.
Written by Chloe Ford
Photography by Jade Berry and Nicholas Kristiansen