Kensington & Chelsea College (KCC)
Higher National Certificate (HNC) Year End Collections 2017
Hosted on 1 June 2017 at Kensington & Chelsea College, London UK.
This year was another delightful exhibition of some talents new millinery designers. The nervous excitement could be felt throughout the room as the milliners stood beside their collections to meet, greet and answer questions about their work. There were fabulous shapes and creative use of materials, everything you would hope to see at a millinery exhibit. The milliners are listed in order of how I walked around the room. Thank you for an inspirational evening.
Hannah Lewis – Hatterly – Fluidity, Movement & Motion
Carole Denford of The Hat Magazine, was spotted at the event. That woman must have Hermione’s time turner from Harry Potter, because she is everywhere.
Farewell KCC, until next year. I couldn’t resist this lovely image of the Imperial Wharf Station looking toward the Design Center as dusk.
My pictures really do not do the hats and head pieces justice. I would highly recommend that you come to the exhibit next year, it is open to the public. Congratulations milliners you are off to a great start. I hope to see you Hattin’ Around. LF
p.s. I have included links to website that were available on their cards at the event. If I have made any errors, please let me know.
Kensington & Chelsea College (KCC) Milliners Graduate Collections are Diverse and Interesting. Take a look at select pieces of each of their collections.
Emily DobsonAmy May MorrisRosaleen Mac Cullogh
Tis the season for graduations. As I am still rejoicing in my son’s graduation from University in May in California, I have an eye toward the graduation collections of the fashion and design schools in London.
Until last year I didn’t even know that going to see the collections of graduating students was even something to be done. However after attending the Kensington and Chelsea College Graduate Collection for the Millinery department. I am hooked. The collections are strikingly full of imagination and craftsmanship.
Congratulation to Lily Pouzet, Jodie Whitelock, Lottie Fenby, Emily Dobson, Emily Adams, Sylvia Jardim, Rosaleen Mac Cullagh, Amelia Locke, Hannah Wyatt, Natasha Bicknell, Amy May Morris, Maryam Davas, Daphne Ferdinandus.
Each collection of five pieces had at least one piece to which I was drawn. I found pieces intriguing for a variety of reasons: the materials used, the immense imagination, the creative construction, breath taking beauty, and emotional impact.
Lily Pouzet – I love the stiffened lace and the lift of the sheer black. It looks light and dramatic.Jodie Whitelock – The clear acrylic was flawless and the “spun sugar” effect was clever.Lottie Fenby – Great use of acrylic with crystals for emphasis.Lottie Fenby – amazing beads, stones and fringe details.Emily Dobson – My photography skills let this one down. The copper on the leather was lovely and the crystal encrusted leaf, very nice.Emily Adams – Its the laser cut wood that got me on this one.Sylvia Jardim – Most likely to wear, lovely colors and good fabric textures.Rosaleen Mac Cullagh – Snakes shaped out of feathers! Awesome.Amelia Locke – Veiling, lace and a twist – great for a wedding. There is an essence about it that feels familiar to me.Hannah Wyatt – Hand dyed silk with the coordinating needle work. A love use of mixed media and craftsmanship.Natasha Bicknell – Structurally interesting wire frame combined with fascinating materials.Amy May Morris – Some times over the top beads is just right.Mayan Davas – Intense w/ wire and leatherMaryan Davas – How did she make the face within the fibrous material?Daphne Ferdinandus – One side is feathers, the other is flowers and the metal swirl to for a lovely bit of smooth textural tension.Daphne Ferdinandus – How did she make those little cubes? The geometric with the organic waves – lovely.
I loved seeing these amazing pieces, and have posted about them in the order that I saw them at the exhibit. Thank you milliners.
I did have two general observations. The first is that those who exhibited a collection with dark fabrics were far more visible against the white mannequin head and white background, than the light colored collections. As you can see from the images for the collections at the top of this post. Second, collections that had some small and some large pieces were more appealing to me when looking at them as a group. I’ve just remembered a lesson I learned from taking pictures of last years graduating collections. Taking a picture of the whole collection does not work for looking back to remember what you liked about the individual pieces, as the details are lost.
I wish all these milliners, good luck in their careers.
