Every year the Fashion Design class from the National College of Art and Design produces a crop of fresh talent ready to unleash their ideas on Dublin’s fashion scene. Here we take a look some of our favourites ahead of their exhibition show on Friday May 23rd.
Anna Gyo
Through her garments Anna explores the visual contrast between masculine and feminine through silhouette and fabrication. “Lackaghmore, my home in Donegal is the inspiration for my collection which embodies the strength, dynamics and power of a family of women and their sense of place.”
Alice Doherty
Entitled Allusive Contrasts, Alice endeavours to create a narrative through her garments by contrasting light with dark, striking structures, flowing prints and elaborate textures.
Naoise Farrell
The menswear collection Baisted Estate presented by Naoise Farrell is a response to the overt consumerism of the Celtic Tiger era. “By integrating the liberal nature of contemporary dance, this collection communicates traditional values and dynamism.”
Gwen Cunningham
Everything is Worthless Again is the title of Gwen’s collection that maps the story of a garment from inception to demise, designer to wearer, retail rail to bedroom floor. From clean, crisp and sterile to crumpled, stained and over-loved.
Rachel Duke
Her collection addresses the excessive work and physical labour in our cultural memory. She describes her design as “process driven and overworked”. By combining experimental construction with reworked hand craft techniques Rachel creates a collection of strong, weighted silhouettes.
Ciara Lennon
For her graduate collection Ciara explores urban environments to inspire a fresh spring/summer menswear collection using contrasting fabrics.
Elaine Cawley
Based on the concept of autoscopy – seeing one’s own body from an elevated and distanced visual-spatial perspective – her designs are inspired by the work of Francesca Woodman: “This collection explores self representation against the external environment through clothing.”
Audrey Kennealy
With a colour story inspired by personal imagery of Dublin’s architecture, this collection is comprised of garments that allow the movement of the body and its form to create illusion in the distortion of prints and knit.
You can see the 2014 NCAD Fashion Design graduate’s collections first hand at the NCAD Graduate Fashion Show on the 23rd of May at St. Catherine’s Church on Thomas Street. For updates on the show and the final year class like NCAD 4th Year Fashion on Facebook and follow @ncadfourthyearfashion2014 on Instagram.
Words: Jocelyn Murray Boyne / Photography: Philip White
