UPDATE: At the Gala Awards Show 2018, the winner and runner up of the Swarovski International Fashion Award was announced. A huge congratulations to the winner Danqi Chen of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology! Congratulations to the runner up, Bao Wen Chen of Shih Chein University. We would like to say a well done to every student that participated, our largest Swarovski International Fashion Award was a display of fantastic and innovative talent from around the globe.
The International Fashion Award Show, sponsored by Swarovski was an incredible display of exceptional craftmanship and innovation from graduates across the world. The 2017 winner of this show: Po Chieh Chien from Shih Chien University produces a high standard of couture fashion and for this year’s catwalk, that standard was met. Throughout the show, bold and vibrant colours were used, alongside neutral palettes that complimented each designer’s collections fully.
To open up the show, Jackson McCabe’s collection showcased a stunning and innovative purple display of couture. The stand out piece was the model that was wearing a rack of hangers holding multiple shirts across his head. Jackson indeed showed the fashion newness required to compete in this show. Furthermore, gender-defying boundaries were completely broken by numerous designers in this catwalk. By disregarding conventional concepts of proportioning to female and male models’ bodies, many of the designs exhibited changed ideas of how fashion should communicate with gender. Dylan McCutcheon-Peat prominently presented this gender defying trope by outfitting male models in typically female attire. For example, the models were dressed in atypical female materials such as lace and mesh. Furthermore, they were in romanticised dresses and featured slits in trousers. Dylan showcased a completely innovative take on male dressing.
Many universities from the Far East presented their collections on the catwalk, alongside their European contemporaries. Amongst the Asian universities, there was a strong pattern of oriental influence. Chun Yun Cheng did this the most beautifully. With stunning colours, this designer managed to take traditional oriental tailoring by styling the garments with a modern twist, setting this collection apart from the other Asian universities.
Words by Anna Tank
Photography by Becky Mukerji