Meeting the Brains Behind Graduate Fashion Week New York

As Graduate Fashion Week takes New York, I am granted a special audience with its organizers, Martyn Roberts, Managing and Creative Director, and Hilary Alexander OBE, industry trustee, whose schedule this week is packed with meetings with schools, industry, and the press. They have just returned from a breakfast thrown by Ralph Lauren in the penthouse of his Madison Avenue HQ during which executives from Michael Kors, Rag & Bone, Target, and Calvin Klein among others gathered to view the work of the selected 10 graduates, six from UK schools, four from the US.

Can you tell us about the concept behind Graduate Fashion Week?

Martyn: We are a bridge between education and industry. We get educators to understand what brands want and help graduates best prepare for the next step. The end result is to get young designers employment and allow the industry to get talent. It’s a sort of dating service; some universities are known for knitwear, some their menswear program, some are known for producing graduates that work well in a team, others for building unique creatives. The British education system is highly regarded, but it’s different from, say, the Chinese one, for example. So we have 32 UK universities involved and 36 international ranging from Tokyo to Sri Lanka to New York.

H: We created Graduate Fashion Week so that finding talent could be a much more democratic process. In the past headhunters were coming to the London schools but couldn’t afford the time to go all over England or Scotland. Now they can see all the work over three floors under one roof. Each university has a stand. In the 25 years of GFW, we’ve showcased the work of an estimated 100,000 graduates.

And why did you bring Graduate Fashion Week to NYC, and not, say Milan or Paris, or even one of the emerging market’s fashion capitals?

H: Paris and Milan are very close to us; they’re just across the water. America is a huge market and there is a long tradition of American brands like Donna Karan, Calvin, Ralph, hiring British graduates.––we counted three at a senior level in Ralph’s design team this morning. It’s just a way to spread the word. And it made sense for our sponsors, Smartfocus, who are here for a big show of their own.

Were there any exciting developments from this morning’s event?

M: We have many leads to follow, including professionals who want to mentor, and sponsor the designers. Our partners and sponsors need to get something from it too.

How did you select the ten graduates whose work you wanted to showcase in NYC?

M: We chose students who have a good story to tell and whose vision will be relevant to the US market. For example Claire Tagg, whose work was based on the uniforms of air hostesses––Claire used to be one herself––and you can see the pilot’s stripes in the jacket sleeves, and seatbelt fastening, and the intricate sequin embellishments which over time become distorted, as if through the course of a journey. She also has tremendous commercial appeal having designed a pre-Christmas collection for Marks & Spencers which sold out within one week.

Hilary, in the 25 years you have been involved with Graduate Fashion Week, how would you say the collections or the graduates have changed?

One thing that’s changed is the quality, the high standard of design, which has to do with the way the education system has developed. The graduate catwalk shows are so much more polished. It’s because of digital: students can now see how established designers are doing it and how the accessories and styling can say so much about your approach to design. There are many more awards now which raises the stakes, and not only best womenswear designer or menswear, but best portfolio, best illustration, best photography…We have one award called Catwalk To Store which recognizes a collection that is ready to drop in retail.

Graduate Fashion Week is a charity so do you run fundraising events throughout the year?

M: It’s not the same in the UK as the US. There isn’t so much philanthropy. Corporate sponsorship is the source of our funding; companies sponsor an award or an event or through digital like our sponsors for this event Smartfocus.

How does the British education system nurture its emerging talent?

H: In the last 2 decades, the UK has given great exposure to its designers, whether through Fashion Scout, Fashion East, NewGen as well as GFW. We have so much talent coming through. By now Alexander McQueen and John Galliano are vintage, then there’s the generation of Christopher Kane, Simone Rocha, Roksanda Ilincic, Erdem, and now a whole new crop, as well as the graduates placed in companies all over the world. In the UK we’ve probably got one of the best systems. It’s the envy of many countries; they don’t have this in Paris or Milan. It’s slightly similar in the US with the CFDA’s work with emerging designers. But we provide the means to be together under one roof, access to affordable means to stage a presentation; we have mentoring programs from established designers, print professionals, owners of fabric mills; we give a masterclass in how to make the most of portfolio, present yourself; there are even banks to advise on business and investment.

(As the garments are unzipped from their bags, something resembling a wreath of teddy bears falls out, and Hilary smiles and says, “Oh, Karl loved that.”)

What are the rewards of your role?

H: I got a phone call from Kate Clark who specialized in textiles and who is working at Chanel, and she has seen Karl several times now, including being squeezed inside that tiny rue Cambon elevator with him, but when they’re in big design meetings, she’s amazed. “We can do anything,” she says, “beading, embellishment, whatever we want, we can dream it and it will happen.” Hearing that, the view from the other side of Graduate Fashion Week, is lovely. Christopher Bailey is one of our patrons who just happened to be the first recipient of our Gold Award, then of course to see him go on to work at Donna Karan, then be hired at Burberry and the rest is history.

M: Our reward is making sense of how it all works together for everyone. All my grads are my children.

By contributing guest editor Jackie Mallon, who is on the teaching faculty of several NYC fashion programmes and is the author of Silk for the Feed Dogs, a novel set in the international fashion industry.

All images by Jackie Mallon for FashionUnited and Graduate Fashion Week