Central Saint Martins: A Bright Fashion Future in 2020

This piece was supposed to be published in Fordham's Flash Magazine, whose issue was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Fashion is centered around bending the rules. After all of these years of its existence, you would think that fashion and design have taken all of the bending it can endure. However, the Central Saint Martins MA Class of 2020 says something different. On February 14th, 2020, the art school in London sent 21 collections down the runway that featured the works of selected masters program students who are set to graduate this spring. The show is a collaboration with L'Oréal Professionnel, and has been for 20 years now, and every year the looks are judged. Two of the 21 designers a
re then given the L’Oréal Professionnel Creative Award and a recognition for their efforts of sustainability and overall design.

    With 100 looks being sent down the runway, the range of the up-and-coming in the fashion world looks extremely promising and boundary-pushing, feeding off of the idea that atypical is the new typical. The collections spanned the spectrum, from menswear to womenswear and subdued to other-worldly. Each designer’s vision and brand were clearly exemplified and unique when held up next to each other. According to Vogue, each designer was given one sentence to describe their vision that was embodied in the individual collections. These statements showed just how much these designers run the gamut:

    Paolina Russo, who opened the show, states her collections draws from the idea of, “Awakening from the dream of suburban bliss only to discover a hunger for a life more daring.”

    Contrastingly, Jegor Pister went for more simple terms, saying his collection represents “ecstatic glamour in a time of cultural excess.”

    Sarah McCormack stated, “In sterile and paranoid times, joyriding on a wave of pleasurable transgression… because I think today, your primal self is really hidden. And this is it, coming out.” McCormack went on to win the show, along with fellow Master’s student Leeann Huang. According to Judge Andrew Davis, “My criteria for judging the award was to try and find something new and original. Techniques and ways of manipulating materials into a finished garment. Both did this in very different ways.”

    As stated before, McCormack’s collection showed textiles in raw, intricate form, demonstrating her master craftsmanship and “primal” nature of her collection. Exhibiting the same skills, Huang chose a very different route for her collection. She explains being inspired by her childhood nostalgia, saying “The future seems very bleak to me. Through my research, I was looking at different things that used to make me happy as a child. Mostly through cartoons like ‘The Powerpuff Girls,’ or ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ which painted a very positive feminist future.” The bright colors of Huang’s designs and use of upcycled materials caught the eye of judges, making her the co-recipient of the award.

    Fordham’s very own Chloë Felopulos had the honor of seeing these rule-bending collections live on the runway in London. Felopulos, being a Fashion Studies minor, knows what’s what when it comes to runway, and her review of the show promises that the future of fashion knows what they are doing. “[The collections] were examples of pure creativity and young innovation,” says Felopulos. “You could see the working of a developing brand DNA in each collection, I was insanely impressed.”

    When asked about how this show gave a peek into the future of fashion, Felopulos seemed extremely hopeful. She says, “The youths promise to deliver strong, new, fun, and rule-breaking fashion into our ever changing world. Everything from styling, to hair and makeup was effortlessly refreshing.” 

    When bringing the term “atypical” to Chloë’s attention, she instantly connected it to the show. “These collections play a lot with atypical styling,” she recalls. She goes on to list uncommon things seen in the runway show like “large furry hats” and models “holding heels down the runway instead of wearing them.” Upon looking at the collections, it is clear that the list could go on and on with how these designers used the “atypical” in fashion to make their designs stand out.

    Coming from someone who likes to push boundaries herself, Felopulos’ comments truly mean that fashion is going in the right direction. It proves that we have a lot to look forward to when it comes to what we see coming down the runway in upcoming years.