Whitney sang that children are the future, but, quite frankly, when it comes to designing clothes, they aren’t very good. Take instead the next generation of designers that are emerging from the world’s prestigious fashion schools – designers that are defining what we wear through their own designs or their work at fashion’s biggest houses. These are the people that invigorate our industry. But it’s well known that these designers need support – not just through being labelled the “next big thing” – that won’t pay their rent – but schemes that support and foster flourishing talent. Without getting on our soapbox (we could go on for hours) – these designers deserve our support.
Step in 1 Granary – which started life as Central Saint Martins’s student magazine and then became something so much more – who, alongside incubating talent both within their pages and their own showroom for emerging designers, are now starting VOID. VOID aims to bring together young designers with those people already at major houses, as well as with stylists and industry insiders, to foster creative collaboration. This will be done in a number of ways – in New York, a number of events, from workshops to films, to showing young designer’s collections at Red Hook Labs, and in London, an exhibition, opening this week.
This exhibition, will see seven young designers paired with stylists from Ellie Grace Cumming to Camille Bidault-Waddington, to create unique a unique set of imagery. Here, we asked some of those collaborators why attention must be paid to fashion’s upstarts.
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“We chose to work in an industry that needs a circulation of ideas in order to renew itself. In all creative fields, the next generation is of key importance to the birth of new movements. Similarly, fashion completes a cycle until a certain style/aesthetic has been overused and over-copied and a new generation rises. Subcultures don’t exist anymore but in a way, some of the brands of this generation can be considered sub-subcultures. That’s why new creativity is even more important than ever as it can create a sense of belonging.”
Anna Pesonen, Stylist
“Every generation is important to me. But, you always want to work with young designers because they give you something fresh, young designers can give you this unpredictability that is missing in bigger, more established houses.”
Katie Burnett, Stylist
To challenge the status quo, and bring a fresh, contemporary vision to our world.
Lyson Marchessault, Stylist
During this time it is more important than ever. There is so much increasing negativity in the world that we need new young voices to challenge everything we see.
Gary David Moore, Stylist
“It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot since Alaïa’s passing. There seems to be a gap between these young, hyped up designers, and those legendary cult-designers who are slowly leaving us. No one is able to stay in the game long enough to build a bridge. Designers like Yves Saint Laurent, Sonja Rykiel, Gianfranco Ferré,… who shifted things around us, influencing all parts of culture. The younger generation doesn’t have the time to develop like these legends did. These young designers too, have a potential to influence culture, and possibly the world, with their work. But because of globalization, everything becomes more generic, there is less space for alternatives. If we want exciting things to happen in fashion and culture, we need to support young designers, otherwise, we’ll just have t-shirts with logos everywhere.”
Olga Kuryshchuk , Founder and Editor-in-Chief of 1 Granary
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VOID is at 180 The Strand, London, from 24 November to 27 November. Admission is free.
Photograph: Richard Quinn by Marie Déhé & Camille Bidault-Waddington
