For one weekend in June, the main hall of Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow resembled the catwalks of Milan or Paris more than a museum, as final-year students from Cardonald College’s School of Fashion, Textiles and Jewellery presented their end-of-year fashion show.
A total of 7,000 visitors attended the show, entitled Assemblage, over two days last month - the highest footfall for the gallery this year - and saw designs by 134 Cardonald students from HND fashion design and manufacture, HND fashion textiles and HND fashion technology courses.
More than 200 items, including wedding dresses, menswear and children’s clothing, were paraded across the catwalk by the models - all students on the course. The only exception was Glasgow photographer and director David Eustace, featured in the Panasonic camera ad on television, who modelled an elaborate suit especially designed for him by his daughter.
Christina Cobb, 19, one of the students on the course, said the show had been a “brilliant reward” for a whole year of intense work. The time she and the others had spent on their collections should be measured “more in days and weeks than in hours”, she said, never mind the other modules for the course.
Each student had to choose from one of three themes, and do the research, design and planning for at least four pieces per collection. They then had to source the material and make the garments. “The tops I made had tassels down the back, each top had 50 and each took about 20 minutes to make,” Christina said.
The Cardonald students also modelled six pieces created by female students in Saudi Arabia, including an elaborate pink wedding dress, giving them a unique opportunity to see their designs worn and shown off in front of thousands of people.
Colourful pieces created in a collaborative project between Cardonald and the Arch Academy in Jaipur, India, were another highlight of the show, with skirts produced by Cardonald students using traditional Indian techniques, and a collection from Arch student Kavita Bhagtani shown on the catwalk.
The end-of-year show marks the conclusion of a tumultuous term for some of the Cardonald College students. In March, TESS reported that some of them were left with nowhere to go next session, after Heriot-Watt said no places would be available for them through a long-established articulation route into second or third year between Cardonald and the university. However, all students who met the entry requirements have since been offered places.
