Royal Collage of Art 'Newgen' exhibition.

Royal College of art is celebrating its 60th anniversary by displaying highlights from the 2008 Fashion MA graduates' final collections. Since the degree began its launched fashion talent such as Ossie Clark, Boudicca, Julien Macdonald and more recently, Erdem Moralioglu.

The display will feature fifty five outfits as well as accessories and sketchbooks from twenty seven young designers. Throughout the exhibition the running themes are bold graphic prints, abstract shapes in contrasting colours, big knitwear and manipulation of the female form.

Highlights of the exhibition include Lisa Hjelm, who says ‘exhibiting at the V&A is a huge honor and just sums up my amazing time spent at Royal college of art’. Her designs are influenced by crystals made up of vicose panels in contrasting colours on a bodycon silhouette. Abbie Shaw ‘s collaboration with RCA jewellery students offers oversized jewellery in cut perspex and tweed dresses with exaggerated zips alongside accentuated hips. Heikki Salonen experiments with digital prints, pixilated images, atmospheric colour palette and images lifted directly from album art of 80’s rock band, ’The Cure’.

Every year approximately 3000 new designers try to make it on the London fashion scene, competing against the odds to try and make their innovative designs stand proud against the established. Overall it’s a cohesive and exciting collection; it’s open until January 31st and defiantly worth a look.

(Abbie Shaw)