Fashion City: Nottingham, UK

(Pictured: one of Yoo Kyung Chun’s designs
at Fully Fashioned 2007)

Last Thursday, I was at a graduation fashion show (titled “Fully Fashioned”) which featured designs by students from the course in Fashion Knitwear Design and Knitted Textiles, BA (Hons), at Nottingham Trent University.

(Pictured: the program sheet)

The course has an internationally established reputation and there was a wonderful buzz for the occasion. Family and friends of the students waited excitedly to see all the creations. (Maybe there were some industry experts and talent scouts as well.)

Each of the 32 participating students created six pieces for the show, so there was a great range of designs to see.

Several students’ designs really stood out for me. Rebecca Rodrigues‘ long dresses had a wonderfully light and sultry flow to them, which was pleasant to see for knitwear.

(Pictured: Rebecca Rodrigues’ design
from the Fully Fashioned catalogue)

Joanne Crosedale‘s designs played with the dimensionality and malleability of knitted textiles and showed off their sense of substance. The simple color scheme accentuated the light and shade of the details.

(Pictured: Joanne Crosedale’s design

Yoo Kyung Chun‘s collection oozed oriental sensitivity and I adored the attention to detail. It also had that unassuming sophistication that I found very appealing.

(Pictured: Yoo Kyung Chun’s design
from the Fully Fashion catalogue)

Overall it was a brilliant experience, and I am pretty sure I have seen some stars of the future.

I spent the next day roaming around the city center, and I discovered more of the city’s fashion connections.

Nottingham has a population of 260,000 and is not really one of the UK’s largest cities (it is only the UK’s 29th most populated city). But I found that there was a surprisingly wide array of shops. Apart from high-end boutiques like Paul Smith and Huge Boss, there were many interesting independent shops. For a city this size, the range of choice is very impressive, and, shopping-wise, it is nearly as good as cities like Birmingham and Glasgow, which have twice and three times the population of Nottingham respectively.

There is also a historical connection. Nottingham was heavily based on the textile industry in the 18th and 19th century and used to be globally important in manufacturing lace.

(Unfortunately, the city’s Museum of Costume and Textile has been closed permanently to the public.)

(Pictured: The Lace Centre)

Nottingham is also the birthplace of Paul Smith, one of the best British designers (and certainly one of my all-time favorites), and he started his career and opened his first boutique in Nottingham.

(Pictured: Paul Smith’s current boutique in Nottingham)

So, I see Nottingham as a city of fashion and style, with a solid history in textiles and a future to look out for.

By the way, just when I was about to arrive at the train station to leave Nottingham, I saw an independent cosmetics shop. I walked in and was surprised to find the discontinued Calvin Klein makeup collection. After making sure the quality was sound, I bought one of the eyeshadows (and my score for Nottingham’s shopping went up even more). I will talk about the eyeshadow later.