London College of Fashion MA 2010

London College of Fashion's MA show held at the grand venue of the Raphael Hall at the V&A last night marked the beginning of 2010's incoming crop of fashion students. Buyers, press and industry folk were all eager to see what the nineteen students had produced. Amongst this class of 2010, whilst the majority still naturally leaned towards womenswear, it was the menswear that came out with the stronger and more complete vision.

This was reflected in the Collection of the Year Award which went to German-born Sven Hoppe whose menswear collection was meant to be a poetic reconciliation of feelings on the Holocaust felt by a new generation of Germans. Putting inspirations aside, Hoppe managed to balance specialist textural elements such as painted latex with relaxed tailoring that together worked in harmony. The other prize went to Young Li Lee who developed a macrame knotting technique with bands of ribbed satin that then adorned 40s inspired fitted dresses.

The strength and breadth of menswear could also be seen in collections by Keiko Kida who explored protectionist warrior-like silhouettes and Juergen Bertsch's quad-armed take on baggy shirts and ragamuffin knitwear. The new MA Fashion Artefact course showed their fruits of labour on the catwalk and were definitely a high point, as demonstrated by U and L-shaped cases by Sarah Williams and curved art nouveau-esque clutches by Joanne Nutall.

Other standout students include So Ra Kim's deft and multi-textural ways with faded out fluoros complete with Mickey Mouse ears. Jin Joo Ma managed to mix faux snakeskin, what looked to be rigid glitter cardboard as well as softer chiffon elements to create unique collage ensembles. There was also a lot of animal lovin' on all levels, as Merve Tuna used taxidermy as embellishments, Eliana Dimitriaopoulou created gradiated fur sculptures and Sophia Condie made Big Bird-style feathered jackets and skirts.