THE FASH PACK

Lako Bukia is one of the UK's most interest imports. After earning esteem in her home country of Georgia and taking a course at the prestigious Instituto Marangoni in Milan, the 22-year-old designer finds herself studying at London College of Fashion for her second BA degree. She has exhibited and studied at Central St Martins, and has found time for all this and designing intricate collections, too. Her use of rich fabrics like velvet and silk and her romantic play on pleats and draping has caught our attention.

This week, she brings up what we think is an important point for many designers, or creatives in general. She says she can't design when she's "too happy". If you design (or write or paint or sing), do you experience the same thing? Or how do you get around that?

Read Lako Bukia's Q&A after the jump

Images courtesy of Vogue.co.uk

With both Cheryl Cole and Beyoncé Knowles wearing his dresses within the past week, we're not suprised that Central St Martins Graduate David Koma was a happy man. "I have been working with Beyoncé and her team to create a unique dress and knew there was a possibility she may wear it, but when I saw her last night she looked absolutely incredible!" an ecstatic Koma told Vogue.com yesterday. Firstly, Cheryl Cole chose a statement Koma dress for her Saturday night appearance on The X Factor, followed by Beyoncé who wore a dress from the same collection to pick up her award from the MTV Europe Music Awards.

"Beyoncé represents the ideal woman that inspires me, I'm delighted that she wore my dress to collect her award and feel privileged and incredibly proud that a worldwide superstar has shown such support", Koma announced. Even after becoming a Harrods Design Award winner, Vauxhall Fashion Scout Merit winner and showing at London Fashion Week for SS10, Koma was still overwhelmed at the feedback to the dress worn by Cheryl Cole from his AW09 collection, available now. "Cheryl is an amazing, beautiful, super sexy woman - I really like her and I was very flattered when I saw her in my dress," Koma exclaimed. "This week I'm a happy man, it's a very exciting time right now!"

Knitwear queen Louise Goldin sped to the forefront of the fashion radar back in 2005 when she graduated from Central St Martins, launching her label soon after. Describing her second collection as a New Gen designer as “Innovative, futuristic and luxurious", and following previous collections receiving rave reviews, Goldin sure has a lot to live up to, and she has.

Her latest collection took things that really shouldn't work - pointed Madonna-like bras, gold lurex and pastel shades of lilac, lemon, mint, blue and pink - threw them all in together, and managed - somehow - to produce a collection that looked fresh, inspiring and innovative rather than tacky. Pleating played a big part in Goldin's collection with fan shaped layers for dresses and skirts, pastel pointed heels with punky spikes of the same colour toughened the looks up and cute cropped jumpers were made more accessible, teamed with high waisted skirts. The upcoming trend for sheer fabrics could be spotted with coloured opaque tights and diaphanous panelling on the upper parts of dresses. Other key pieces to look out for included sugary sweet puffed shorts and the gold panelled jumpsuit.

See more images after the jump

Working with Matthew Williamson and Vivienne Westwood sure helped bring out creativity in Heidi Mottram, the Brit designer who's making her name for the unique textile she uses: eel skin. Mottram, a graduate of Central St Martins and the London College of Fashion, started her own line just two years ago and is already becoming a favourite for fashion types who like their accessories with a bit of an edge.

Here, she talks with The Fash Pack about escaping from her studio, appealing to confident women and (ironically) going more veggie.

Heidi Mottram's Q&A after the jump

Marios Schwab has some packing to do. The Central St Martins grad - and Brit-designer favourite - has been picked to take over the flailing Halston label, according to WWD.

Schwab's first runway collection for Halston will be autumn/winter 2010, which would mean his first Big Apple fashion-week show will be next February. With the critical acclaim of his last private-collection show in London, we're guessing he'll bring some insight and much-needed positive attention to the brand. The designer is keen to keep his own line, so the (potential) revival of one brand won't mean another stops dead.

When it's kind of chilly and breezy (read: a night like last night), sometimes you just want to curl up in something comfy. And if it has a hint of Marc by Marc and/or PPQ, so be it.

That's where Kumiko Watari comes in. The Kyoto City-trained designer (and Central St Martins grad) has come out with migh-T, a line of t-shirts and t-shirt dresses that make these jersey pieces anything but a sartorial last resort. She talks to The Fash Pack about Bjork, sushi and keeping a sense of humour.

Read the Q&A after the jump

TodayHeymca showed why they are one of the the hottest tickets on the Vauxhall Scout schedule.

If there's one thing you will be wearing come fall, it's a statment jacket. Let me rephrase that; a Heymca statement jacket. They were padded at the shoulders and on the hip, emphasising the waist and creating a powerful but feminine silhouette. Their autumn/winter offerings included angular tuxedo jackets with a strong sci-fi aesthetic. It's hardly suprising that the pair did a stint at Roland Mouret who is the king of all things stuctured and archetectural.


Helen and Myra, the design duo behind Hemyca, proved that Central Saint Martin's isn't the only place churning out strong design talent. The fashion industry should pay attention to London College of Fashion alumni.

Holographic leather: the two words you need to know to understand the novelty of Kseniya Zagorodnyuk and Amy Winters. They met while studying at Central St Martins and used their shared love of epic opera and the theatre to start their very own, very futuristic fashion line, Couture Clubbing.

Here, they tell the Fash Pack why Grace Jones will always be cool, how electrical engineering is just another part of the job, and what they'll be doing in Paris next month.


When did the two of you start designing?
Kseniya started designing at the age of 10. She was a lead dancer in a dance group and was designing costumes for dance shows. Later she started designing and making clothes for herself and her mum. She had a nickname at the school, 'Miss Extravagance', because of unusual outfits she was wearing.

Amy always loved painting and fabric. During her school days she was a magpie, adoring anything sparkly, shiny and beautiful. She created exotic costumes inspired by Venetian masks and Viennese palaces.

more after the jump