CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES

It's come to that time of year again when CSM throws another few thousand young talents out into the art, fashion and design world. The exhibitions at Charing Cross and Southampton Row were as strong as ever this year (thank you Southampton Row for your free wine... textiles never looked so good) - and here's a sneaker of our fave from Performance: Design and Practice at the Back Hill exhibition.

Costume by James Barnett.

Over and out. Ashx

Haute construction, house couture

The ‘drink me’ potion in Alice in Wonderland inspired Gwen Stefani to don a country cottage for her solo debut and the pliable metals, membrane structures, lightweight glasses and plastics used in building construction are creeping onto the catwalk and into the high-street season-on-season.

From House of Holland to skyscraper Westwood heels, fashion and architecture have walked side by side through the decades, being influencing and affecting one another in the name of innovation and style.

Cavemen built their houses (read tents) and clothes (read loincloths) from the same skins, so maybe architecture and fashion really are one and the same. When it comes down to it does it really matter whether it’s coat-as-shelter or house-as-shelter - at the end of the day it’s all shelter right?

We chatted with architecture graduate turned fashion designer Omer Asim for his thoughts on house and haute couture…

Fashion and architecture – what's the biggest difference?
Fashion designers can get away with show pieces and conceptual editors can put them into use, architects' innovative ideas are generally frustrated by killjoy town planners!

Do you buy this whole ‘wearable shelter’ thing?
Who can afford a mortgage these days.

How is your work specifically influenced by architecture?
It is NOT. Birds can build the most fascinating and intricate structures, I doubt they attended 'Architecture' school.

Any favourite buildings?
I like The Lloyd's of London. It functions as some sort of insurance brokerage headquarters! It is immaculately built inside out, you can see all the service pipings and guts of the building, a bit like Lanvin's artisanal raw finishes! Richard Rogers did a great job in propelling the propaganda that insurance and finance operates on transparency ;)

Least favourite?
I didn't bother to find out who built it, or what is it.

Would you ever return to architecture?
I don't know! Right now I'm doing fashion, have no plans to desert it.

(Dress by Omer Asim; Velour, styling by Alexia Somerville, photography by Nick Kelly)

(Dress by Omer Asim; Plastic Dreams, styling by Neil Stuart photography by Daniel O'Connel)

Oh yeah, and let's not forget the king of wearable homes - the humble snail (This one's called John... apparently).

Ashx