As ever, the Fashion & Textiles room is a complete hive of creativity but never before has anyone attempted to make, yes make, their own leather! Bella Pallett (Upper 6), who will be one of the first to complete our new Fashion & Textiles A-level in the summer, has taken the coursework theme of ‘sustainability’ to a whole new level and, over the past three weeks, she has cultivated her own piece of vegan leather to feature as either a pocket, collar or cuff on the jacket she is designing and will be making next term. It has been the most incredibly exciting process and the outcome is superb with two beautiful squares of perfect leather that she plans to further embellish using red cabbage or blueberry dye (again made by her own fair hand).
Likewise, Mimi Dudman (also Upper 6) has been practising her fabric manipulation with a pleating board, using the very same couture methods that are more renown in high-end fashion houses such as Chanel or Dior. The results are stunning and she will be using these skills in the design of a bespoke and made-to-measure dress that she will creating out of either Peace Silk (Ahimsa) or bamboo. The only problem being that she has mocked up such a huge variety of truly elegant ideas that it is going to be very difficult to decide on the final one, let alone make it!