Set against the backdrop of the coveted Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, GFW is launched by the esteemed Graduate Fashion Foundation, which boasts an impressive roster of notable alumni, including Christopher Bailey MBE, Stella McCartney, and Julien MacDonald, who have made indelible marks on the global fashion stage. The Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts (CSVPA) graduate fashion collection in 2023 was highlighted by student Charlotte Lamb, who won three Graduate Fashion Week awards. Her achievements included the Vivienne Foundation Award, the Highly Commended in Considered Fashion Award, and the top prize in the Collective Show, which earned her a spot in the prestigious Best of Show Gala.
Sophie Wheeler. My collection ‘The Dazzle of Halibut’ is driven by concerns of the waste generated by the fashion industry. Inspired by large silhouettes, playful colours, and patterns I have played with knitting and tufting textiles, using waste yarns to create a collection visually exciting.
Charlotte Susan Lamb: My initial inspiration started with my own WW2 family archive
A small token of love, embroidered with a modest poppy and cornflower, an ear of corn, positioned around the words ‘To my Dear Wife’, was the starting point for both my dissertation and final collection ‘A Stitch in – Time – Waits for No Man’. A redundant practice in the face of modern industrial production and historically constructed as a tool of heteronormative monitoring, this piece of cloth has resonance today, as fashion questions our understanding of gender and also the speed of the world around us
My final collection questions of the aesthetics of menswear, and craft ability to capturing of time. The fabrics all salvaged from duvet covers, pillowcases and curtains, take inspiration from the soldiers’ ingenuity, and challenge the extractive and depleting consequences of fast fashion. These materials, that have already had a life in a home, are reimagined through the slow application of needle work. While the intricate construction folds a moment of masculinity from the past into the present.
