More on Graduate Fashion Week...

I came home from Graduate Fashion Week laden down with various paraphenalia picked up during the course of day three of the event. I am now proud owner of a new perfume, a toothbrush, a sketchbook, a calico bag (yet another!), Jelly Belly beans (yum!), and various magazines and brochures. All of this is exciting material, but I can't help think that all the money spent should be injected more directly into supporting the teaching and content of the courses; while, to play devil's advocate, the other part of me know how important it is that the courses and their students are marketed as innovatively as possible, especially in this era of excess information. Speaking of which, I found fame in the GFW Daily - as am featured in the vox pop section for the Tuesday edition...!
The hitherto secret international designer joining the GFW judging panel is Julien Macdonald; it will be interesting to see how his input into the process affects the outcome of the Gala Awards, taking place tonight. I have a golden ticket so will let you know all tomorrow. Perhaps he is scouting for fresh talent for his own label, given that late last year he signed a big business deal with a new backer?
I bumped into my cousin, who is cycling aficionado extraordinaire and has her own fashion label for biking fashionistas, Cyclodelic. She was at GFW scouting for graduating designers who might be fellow fans of the bike and of fashion, and interested in cycling catwalk show she's planning for later this year, following the success of the Wheels and Heels, which took place during the last LFW, and which she worked on. It's all still early stages, but she has big plans for the event and no doubt will pull them off - I certainly hope to be reporting updates here on Fashion Popcorn!!
I very unfortunately missed Liverpool John Moores and Birmingham City University's joint show, but the reports were very favourable and those who did make it in were impressed by the collections that were showcased; certainly what I could see through the door window looked interesting. Both are working on raising their profile so no doubt we will see something of an evolution over the next few years. I made it to each of the further shows, so all in all have managed seven shows in the past two days - a respectable third of all shows which (in my mind!) makes me well qualified to have an opinion on the event.