W: Hector James Blue

"Kingston graduates don't follow trends; they initiate the change the industry is currently gasping for."

DATE: 13TH June 2025. PLACE: Shoreditch Town Hall. TIME 19.00

On a rainy Thursday night in Shoreditch, the air inside the Town Hall was electric. Kingston University’s BA Fashion graduates took to the runway on the eve of Graduate Fashion Week, delivering a show that felt less like a student exhibition and more like a high-stakes industry debut. Known for producing "studio-ready" designers, Kingston’s Class of 2025 lived up to its reputation, presenting a collection of work that balanced the intense physical and mental rigors of three years of training with a sharp, commercial edge.

The 2025 cohort leaned heavily into narrative-driven design, moving away from frivolous fashion toward meaningful, sustainable storytelling. The collection themes ranged from the deeply ancestral to the highly functional, showcasing a sophisticated range that included everything from the eccentric and artistic to the deeply conceptual. This year, the students demonstrated a rare ability to ground their wilder creative impulses in technical reality, producing garments that could easily transition from the runway to a high-end shop floor.

Among the evening's standouts was Ashanti Clark, whose collection "The Immigrant Journey" utilized repurposed 1970s migration suitcases to create structural "luggage dresses" accented with Caribbean lace. Spencer Thornton offered a compelling exploration of fluid masculinity by blending 1840s silhouettes with 1980s power suits, while Holly Brown looked to the fishing trade for inspiration, integrating industrial poppers and adjustable safety lines into high-concept functional wear. Meanwhile, designers like Eden Cox and Lauren Lewis showcased a mastery of digital design and bold expressionism, respectively, proving that the future of fashion lies in the intersection of technology and art.

What truly sets Kingston apart—and explains why industry insiders from houses like Victoria Beckham and Dior are perennial fixtures in the front row—is the students' technical finish. The precision of the draping and the innovation in knitwear suggest a cohort that understands the business of fashion as much as the craft. These graduates aren't just making clothes; they are archiving culture and solving modern problems through sustainable practices. As the ink dries on their degree certificates, it is clear that many of these names will be headhunted by international fashion houses before the week is out.