The YKK Showroom is a unique resource and platform for emerging designers, students and customers. With the showroom based in the heart of Shoreditch, visitors can get the chance to speak to industry professionals, have instant access to YKK’s latest products, catalogues and collections and purchase limited edition items and samples.
The YKK Showroom is currently showcasing several of our GFW alumni collections from previous years, presenting the emerging diversity in the upcoming talent of the future of fashion. Amy Thomson, Claire Tagg and Kate Clarke are a few of many of our GFW alumni with garments on display in the showroom, accompanied by the designs of Megan Evans, winner of the YKK Accessories Award in 2017, and Maddie Williams, winner of the Vivienne Westwood Sustainable and Ethical Award at GFW17.
Runner up in the 2017 M&S Womenswear Award, Claire Tagg has since gone on to create a capsule collection for M&S, and has had her work shown at Fashion Scout during London Fashion Week. Her graduate collection focuses on the story of her journey as an air hostess, exploring the typical airline uniform in her graduate collection, seen in the deconstruction of airline jackets and making her own printed seatbelt fastenings. Many of Claire's design themes centre around the concepts of embellishment, glamour, deconstruction and the power of prints.
Amy Thomson graduated from Leeds College of Art in 2017 with a collection that demonstrated a keen interest in fashion illustration and surface print. Her collection focused on fashion as a canvas for art, using hand drawn illustrations and prints to tell a narrative, from an innocent, child like perspective.
Kate’s passion for design came from love of dressing up. As a child Kate loved playing with dolls, designing and making clothes for them. She has said that it is fascinating how you can transform into a different character through your aesthetic expression. Kate shaped her graduate collection around her own feelings of leaving childhood behind unwillingly and entering an adult world that felt like it was crumbling around her. Her garments are adorned with drawings of toys that she used to play with and sketches of her dog Sally which makes her collection extremely personal. In her final collection, Kate played with the idea of dressing up as a princess in an exaggerated way, as children do, with her collection featuring vibrant prints and imaginative embellishment techniques.
All of the graduate collections shown at YKK show the assortment of talent that is brought to GFW each year, with beautifully imagined design techniques, personal themes, intricate embellishments and more. We recommend you head to Commercial Street in Shoreditch, to take a look at the collections close up!
Words by Amber Whitaker
Photography by Becky Mukerji and Nicholas Kristiansen