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Next Generation Fashion Leaders sentenced to a lockdown Education
Words Uyi Ilenbs
Has the billion-dollar fashion industry's grassroots been overlooked? Have the next generation of fashion houses been trapped in their homes?
Students in fashion design are arguably at the forefront of the next generation of fashion leaders. They invest hundreds of pounds on fabrics, customised services, and teaching materials over the course of their degrees in order to achieve the greatest grade of work and stand out in a very competitive field.
While fashion has always been a hands-on sport, the fast-paced world of technology and communications has converted the traditional close-knit style of communication into a multi-billion dollar worldwide industry.
I spoke to fashion design students about their education journey and their experience while completing their degrees during lockdown. Numerous ambitious designers travel from all around the world to pursue fashion courses at the capital's most prominent fashion universities. Following in the footsteps of celebrity designer Jimmy Choo, Selina Kwong, a Malaysian native attended and graduated from London College of Fashion with a BA Hons Fashion Design and Technology: Womenswear. After spending roughly half of her course in lockdown, she knew how difficult it was to make the best of a bad situation, so she did everything she could to make the most of it.
When I spoke with Selina, I discovered that, like many of us, lockdown provided an opportunity to grow and gain new skills. She explained that immersing herself in new digital software sparked an interest in digital 3D software, which improved not only the presentation of her work but also the actual construction of her garments. I believe it is obvious that the boot camp lockdown resulted in some favourable outcomes.
Selina traveled back home to Malaysia when lockdown first came around, she had extremely limited materials to work with and didn't have access to all the resources she necessary. "It was difficult," she added.
I was curious if she thought lockdown had an impact on her readiness for the early phases of her profession after graduation. Of course, having access to resources is important, but I hadn't thought how the world's and industry's current uncertainties, might play a role in added stress and anxiety. Most of us are nervous about approaching graduation because we don't know what we want to pursue or if our fashion degree will or won't map out the next 20 years of our lives. I can't imagine having to adjust to the limitations of in-person tutoring or peer critiques, let alone the loss of real-life creative input and inspiration.