Merry Xmas

The picture says it all. Merry Xmas from everyone at UCA Rochester and I wish you all the best for 2009!!

Wonderland

At the Overlap fashion show last month, Fashion Promotions student, Meg Shipley won an award for the Fashion in Film competition in partnership with UEDA college in Japan. I caught up with her to find out about the film and her prize that includes a trip to Japan.

Describe the concept of the film.
Ok, so the challenge was to make a short film featuring a garment designed by a student from UEDA in Japan to be shown at the London fashion show last week. I’m not going to lie, I was inspired by the work of fashion photographer Tim Walker - I went to an exhibition of his a week earlier and thought his stuff was pretty awesome. So I decided to go with a “Wonderland” theme - kind of Alice in Wonderland meets the Garden of Eden. I actually made up a lot of the film as it went on, but the overall idea was that the character would be wondering through a surreal place, eat a poison apple and turn into a mentalist!

How long did it take you to make?
In total, I spent a day preparing the set and filming, and then it took me a further week to put it all together.

You are on work placement at the moment, can you tell us who it is with and how you are finding it?
Unfortunately, I couldn't make the show as I’m on work experience and had to stay late. I’m working at Rizvi Millinery, basically making couture head wear which is pretty cool stuff! I love it, and my sewing skills are vastly improving even though I got a beast of a burn from the steamer yesterday.

When do you plan to take your trip to Japan?
I’m not sure when the trip is taking place but hopefully early next year. I actually can’t wait, Japan’s always been on my wishlish!

The film is part of the work you do on the Fashion Promotion course, tell us about the other topics that you study.
Making this film has prepared me for our next project brief, The Cut where it’s a similar concept. I think Fashion Promotion gets a bit of grief about being a doss course but it isn’t at all. We study the art of portraying fashion through styling, journalism and PR and it enables us to constantly stretch the imagination by making entire magazines, promotional films, and even organising events like Graduate Fashion Week.

What do you hope to do after the course?
I’m not sure what I’m going to do after the course, now I have a taste for film making we’ll have to see. Although working with a milliner has really inspired me to get more hands on so who knows?

You can check out the film, Wonderland above.

ARCH

We normally see churches as dull and uninspiring places that we are dragged to by our parents when we are young. Grey, bleek and cold the buildings often offer very purpose aside from the odd wedding and christening. However over the last few years we have seen the place of worship being used for more arty activities such as fashion shows. For instance alumni Jatin Patel used St Pancras church to launch his new collection at London Fashion Week and The Old Spitalfied church was the venue for the UEDA and UCA fashion show a few weeks back. One person who has taken the use of churches to a new level is Tim Meacham who is better known as course leader of BA Hons in Creative and Technical Practice.

Art in Churches (ARCH) is a project that revives redundant medieval churches by restoring them and featuring contemporary artwork. Four churches in Hoo were chosen to feature projects by contemporary artists in installation, photography, painting and textiles. 11 Kent based artist such as Amanda Thesiger, Kathryn Faulkner, Mark Cowper, Sara Wicks, Ian Bottle, John Dargan, Kerrie Nimmo, Sue Dray as well as Tim Meacham produced sculptures, photographs and painting.

Historically, churches were always at the forefront of art, encouraging novel art by commissioning leading artists of the day. In providing artists an opportunity to explore the unique environment in Hoo and by bringing new artwork into these extraordinary buildings, ARCH aims to participate in this long tradition. The chosen artistic disciplines are diverse including installation, photography, painting, sculpture and textiles. The exhibits seek to engage with the public and create an ongoing dialogue between contemporary art and the public spaces they occupy.

So good was the venture that it was awarded a trophy for Best Heritage at the recent Medway Culture and Design Awards.

Jewellery and Display

We all like a bit of bling now and again and show a lady a diamond and she will be yours forever. Artist and Lecturer, Kate Samuels is taking place in a talk about the future of contemporary jewellery. She will be joined by writer and lecturer Lin Cheung, Jeweller, professor of Applied Art and Design in Dusseldorf, Elisabeth Holder, and course leader for MA Contemporary Jewellery at UCA Rochester, Simon Bliss. The Jewellery Symposium takes place on Friday 5th December and will be exploring traditional practices and looking at how we understand jewellery in the modern society.

The event starts at 11.00am and will take place in Lecture Theatre 1.
It is FREE for staff and students.

A Day in the Life of Karen Millen

Have you ever wondered what successful fashionistas get up to from day to day? Well check out The Sunday Times' piece on A Life in the Day of Karen Millen where she talks about her two charities, HopeHIV and The Gateway School of Fashion. Of course UCA Rochester gets a mention.

Click on this link to read the article.

Picture taken from The Sunday Times website

Overlap

Former and current students from UCA Rochester joined up with those from UEDA College of Fashion (UCF) in Osaka last night to host an elaborate fashion show. The event took place in Spitalfields in London and featured an eclectic mix of designs and eye-catching outfits. Graduates, Shazadi Khan, Hannah Bartlett and Collette Gibbs who took part in Graduate Fashion Week showed off their collections. There was also a film screening of short films that were created by Rochester students studying Fashion Promotion and Photography and all the films featured outfits made by students from UCF. An award was given to the best film which was a trip to Osaka and won by Meg Shipley. The event was sponsored by L'Oreal and all proceeds went towards the Gateway School of Fashion.

Millen Mania

Alumni and Global fashion designer, Karen Millen has been all over the shop lately - pun intended. Last Wednesday she was at the campus hosting the Cool Fashioning event where she officially opened the exhibition for the Gateway School of Fashion. Today she will be on hand at the UCA and UEDA fashion show which takes place at Spitalfields in London. Tonight the diminutive designer will be on Meridian TV discussing the Gateway School in South Africa along with Fashion Management course leader, Sheelagh Wright. On Sunday she can be found between the glossy pages of Style, The Sunday Times supplement. You heard it hear first.

Check out the Karen Millen blog.

Nucleus Rochester

Nucleus Rochester, a shop and gallery that sets out to promote local artists, designers and musicians has its grand opening tomorrow. The shop is located on Rochester High Street and is part of The New Art Centre in Chatham. Visitors will be able to feast their eyes on fantastic pieces by the creative bods of Medway which include paintings, illustrations, sculptures, photography, clothes, ceramics and jewellery. So if you have a spare moment tomorrow evening then pop down for a nosey. You will be treated to a glass of vino as well as some nibbles.

The opening of Nucleus takes place at 73 Rochester High Street between 5.00pm and 9.00pm.

Fashioning Hope and Cool Living

The fashion industry is often seen as being frivolous, flamboyant and excessive. Famous designers such as Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen and former student, Zandra Rhodes enjoy a champagne lifestyle that consists of first class travel, hotels and restaurants. However despite all these trappings fashion does have s nurturing and passionate side and this has been presented in events such as Catwalk the World and Fashion Rocks. Tomorrow UCA Rochester is hosting a humanitarian event of our own. Fashioning Hope and Cool Living looks into how we can stimulate growth into developing countries and feeding creativity and diversity into back to developed partners.

Course Leader for Fashion Management, Sheelagh Wright will be discussing the Gateway School of Fashion in South Africa which is a unique collaboration with alumni Karen Millen. While FE Lecturer, Lucy Panesar will be hosting Cool Living which will explore consumerism and trade between the global north and south. The event will take place at the Zandra Rhodes Gallery between 4.00pm and 7.00pm where we will be treated to talks, presentations, short films as well as a chance to look at the photographs taken at the Gateway School of Fashion.

Made in Medway 2 book launch

Well it was so good that they decided to do it again. The Made in Medway book launch is once again upon us and this time it features vibrant businesses in the Medway area. From large sprawling conglomerates, cutting edge and hip companies to niche boutiques, they are all celebrated in Made in Medway 2. The wonderful images are taken by UCA Rochester’s resident in-house photographer, Rikard Osterlund who captures the spirit of the unspoken heroes of the Medway towns. However, Made in Medway is much more than a book and could be described as a way of life. According to Steve Rowland, editor of the book, "It's a creative hub, an online gallery, a visual archive, a directory, a blog, a networking opportunity, a place to commission work, and an on-line resource centre for practitioners to develop their discipline further."

UCA Rochester are sponsors of the event and will be hosting the launch at the campus this Tuesday. Guests will be the good and great of Medway and they will be treated to goodie bags, music, drinks and canapés. And to think they said nothing good ever came out of Medway?

If you are a creative practitioner who wants to add your details to their database then all you need to do is click on the link here.