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Fringe benefits at London's Graduate Fashion Week

Filed under: Events: On the Scene




If fashion is war, then consider Zandile Blay your embedded reporter. From fashion shows to stylish parties, she's there to cover it all -- from London to New York and everywhere in between. Read all about it from your favorite fashionista.

See, I sorta wish that was just a witty play on words. But fringes - and lots of them - were the detail of the day at the opening of Graduate Fashion Week. Leather fringes, straw fringes, cotton fringes, multi-colored fringes and beyond paraded down the runway on the first day of the event, which started on Sunday and ends to today. I am your girl in London for the week, as I check out the good, the bad and the fugly at what has become the largest event to promote student fashion designers across Europe.

Fringe Benefits at London's Graduate Fashion Week

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Yesterday hundreds of fashion journalists, stylists and friends gathered to check out the graduate collections of design students from several British schools. Sunday's line up included The University of Central Lancashire, Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication, Northumbria University and Winchester School of Art Amongst Others.

Before I rip their rags to shreds I have say this: I was incredibly impressed. I regularly attend New York and London Fashion week and some of the collections I saw yesterday -- in my humble opinion -- were genuinely good enough to be featured during these events. However, some of the other student collections looked like, well, student collections.

But whether good or bad, there were some very cohesive trends that came across from all the collections I saw yesterday. Judging by the clothes that strutted and stumbled (literally, I've never seen so many models topple on their heels) across the runway, some of the major trends bubbling beneath the radar are: fringes, neon colors, leggings and tights with playful prints, and the rejuvenation of the trench coat. Check in later as I give you the rundown from Monday's shows!

XO, Your Favorite Fashionista, Zandile Blay

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