W: Maximiliano Dubois
The Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts (CSVPA) Graduate Fashion Show 2023 was a masterclass in "emotional engineering." While many graduate showcases lean heavily into neon futurism, the CSVPA cohort brought a profound, grounded intimacy to the Truman Brewery at Graduate Fashion Week. The show felt less like a traditional catwalk and more like a series of moving vignettes, where high-fashion silhouettes were used to unpack complex themes of ancestry, domesticity, and the quiet resilience of the human spirit.
The undisputed "North Star" of the showcase was Charlotte Susan Lamb, whose collection, A Stitch in Time – Waits for No Man, served as a poetic anchor for the evening. Drawing from her own family’s World War II archives, Lamb’s work was a breath-taking reinvention of menswear. By salvaging duvet covers, pillowcases, and curtains, she transformed domestic relics into sophisticated, hand-embroidered garments that challenged the speed of modern "fast fashion." Her triple-win at Graduate Fashion Week—including the prestigious Vivienne Westwood Foundation Award—highlighted a shift in the industry toward "considered fashion" that honours the past while innovating for the future.
Charlotte Susan Lamb: My initial inspiration started with my own WW2 family archive
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.
Beyond Lamb’s triumph, the runway was a testament to the school’s strength in textile alchemy and sustainable storytelling. Sophie Wheeler’s collection, The Dazzle of Halibut, turned industrial yarn waste into a riot of knitted and tufted textures, proving that eco-consciousness can be as visually explosive as it is ethical. Meanwhile, Temujin Blakeway’s victory in the Fashion Photography category underscored CSVPA’s holistic approach to design; the show wasn't just about the clothes, but about the world-building and visual communication that surrounds them
.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.
What set the CSVPA 2023 show apart was its rejection of the "disposable." Every collection felt like a deliberate response to the extractive nature of the industry. From the use of cyanotype printing on antique lace doilies to the integration of family-knit crochet, the designers displayed a level of maturity usually reserved for established couture houses. It was a clear signal that the next generation of Cambridge-trained talent is prioritizing longevity over trends, crafting "future heirlooms" that are as intellectually stimulating as they are beautiful to behold.
