Get to know Central Saint Martins’ new fashion talents

Almost forty graduates presented at the Central Saint Martins BA Fashion show on Wednesday night, which featured frilled hillbillies, female jokers and washed up, pipe-smoking fishermen. We select our favourites from the line-up, including this year’s L'Oréal Professional Designer of the Year winner Jim Chen Hstang Hu.

HIROKO MISANO

Initial reaction:  

The women of Dior's New Look era turn up at the Tour de France. 

Race ready: 

With their hair slicked into perfect Marilyn Miller-style waves, Misano's models paraded down the runway. With their hands in the pockets of their wide hipped skirts, they walked with a decided rhythm as if they were racing. The bolero-meets-sports jackets were testament to this observation – the racing theme continued with the appearance of riding gloves made suitable for evening wear, and cycling shoes turned in to stiletto heeled boots. 

JIM CHEN HSTANG HU

Initial reaction: 

Margaret Atwood’s women from The Handmaid’s Tale. 

Structures in scarlet: 

Bare foot models with their hair tied up or no hair at all, ethereally sauntered down the runway, clad in the same shade of scarlet. Using a combination of 3D printing and lattice cutting, Hu managed to make his pinafore-style dresses look as if they had a life of their own – as caged structures grew from chest fronts and extended from back panels.

LOUIS PILEGGI

Initial reaction: 

The female incarnation of the joker card.

Harlequeens: 

Checkerboard and harlequin print two-pieces were skin tight and multicoloured. High-necked tops splayed into ribbons of fabric at the sleeves, as did the trousers which had the appearance of dissected 70s flares. Giant safety pins secured foam motif badges – from showgirl heads complete with fascinators, to circular discs with penis-shaped cut-outs.

NATHAN MOY

Initial reaction: 

Fishermen whose boats had capsized at sea make it back to shore covered in debris. 

Shipwrecked silhouettes: 

The traditional fishermen tropes were reimagined with a destructive twist. Long, thick cable knit jumpers with unfinished ends gave a worn, lackadaisical feel. Flares were printed with faded deck chair stripes, whilst longline collared jackets and Sou'Wester hats appeared in typical caustic yellow. Knotted rope harnesses wove around upper bodies which were decorated with trinkets you'd find along a shoreline, and models even sported carved wooden smoking pipes.

GABRIEL CASTRO 

Initial reaction: 

A young boy holidaying in Devon. 

Somewhere, beyond the sea: 

Castro opened the show with a topless model, dressed in swimming shorts with a vintage, brown leather camera case swinging from his neck. The clothes seemed like the imagined wardrobe of a young Tony Ray-Jones – inquisitive and eager to capture his holiday surrounding. Sea blue hues striped across oversized, rugby-style shirts which were paired with pristine white, wide legged trousers. 

JI YE CHUN

Initial reaction:

Little house on the playful prairie. 

Frill billy: 

Masculine and feminine silhouettes meet within the context of America's Deep South. Oversized denim shirts and dungarees with overt yellow top stitching were layered with frills of chiffon in primary colours, while check shirts were sawn in half. Elsewhere, the pattern cropped up in pocket detailing on black, translucent trousers.

WATARU TOMINAGA

Initial reaction: 

A tribe of men decked out in an array of flamboyant prints, slashed and sewn together. 

Full-on fabrics: 

Tominaga's collection was a celebration of print and colour. The most vivacious streaks of sunshine yellow, acid green and popping red were paired with ditsy floral prints which looked as if they'd been peeled straight off the walls of a house from the 70s. Layering was also in full effect – coral pink collared shirts peeked out from underneath multi-print V-neck vests.