Last Friday March 11, 2016 CTCFD’s third year students presented their graduate collection concepts and initial lineups to a panel of industry experts including CEO of the Cape Town Fashion Council Bryan Ramkilawan, and emerging local designer and entrepreneur Mzukisi Mbane of Imprint ZA.
Hosted at the Cape Town Fashion Council head office in town, our students presented their personal concepts through photo stories individually originated around the theme ‘I AM A CREATIVE’. This theme required each student designer to look within their immediate environment, drawing inspiration through their personal stories and observations. Concepts included inspiration taken from traditional craft (incorporating knitting and hand weaving), to dialogue on society’s subtle control through every day signage.
Through these photo stories the students were able to set the tone of each of their collections, backing their concepts with extensive trend, colour and fabrication research. Below are a few examples of work seen throughout the day.
With these concepts explained, students were then able to present their proposed collection lineups to the panel. Our panel of industry experts, seen below from right to left included Ricci JvR, owner & head designer of Ricci JvR; Bryan Ramkilawan, CEO of the Cape Town Fashion Council; Gabrielle Kannemeyer, leading South African stylist; Cyril Naiker, creator of Fashion Undressed; Devon Anderson, CEO of Devon Anderson Concept; and Mzukisi Mbane, owner and head designer of Imprint ZA.
With an extensive pool of knowledge, these leaders in the fashion field offered feedback on all facets of the students’ process, from trend relevance, and target market research, to the editorial appeal of garments and the selection of fabrication presented. This invaluable feedback has allowed our students to take their collections to the next level – and we can’t wait to see the final result at our end of year runway show!
Go behind the scenes of our panel presentation in the video below!