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.