In line with Paris (!) Year 6 had their own Fashion week, on 26th February, as part of the post 11+programme. On Monday they were very fortunate to have a ‘Fashion panel Q and A’ with variety of experts from within the industry. They came up with some interesting questions to ask the panel such as ‘Why did you get into fashion? What did you have to do to achieve your goals? How do you deal with rejection of your ideas? What is the most exciting/challenging thing about your job?’ There were some interesting insights as well as a strong message across the panel: don’t be afraid to make mistakes, be kind and just keep going!
On Tuesday the children visited the Victoria and Albert Museum and The Natural History Museum to take part in a workshop at each museum, as well as gather research sketches for the ‘biomorphic garments’ they would be making later in the week. At the V and A they became designers and made machettes in small groups. Their problem to solve: sustainability within the clothing industry. There were some fantastic inventions and ideas: extendible fabric which grows as you grow, a t-shirt which features solar panels on the fabric so you can charge your phone whilst you wear it, or selling parts of garments which are detachable so that your clothes are constantly changing depending on which collar/sleeve/cuff you decide!
On Wednesday the children were extremely lucky to have an assembly session with Sarah Burton. It was incredibly inspiring for the children to be able to touch garments she had made as well as be talked through her mood boards, inspiration and references for each of the piece. Sarah highlighted to the children the importance of the process and working with a team which set them up very well for the design project for the rest of the week.
On Friday in the Serbian Hall, the children exhibited their own processes and displayed the garments that they had designed and made in small groups from recycled materials. There was some exceptional examples where groups had reflected and evaluated to develop their pieces from research to design to final piece. All teams collaborated brilliantly and we were very impressed with their creativity to produce biomorphic garments from such unnatural materials such as plastic and bottle tops! One staff member commented that celebrities such as Bjork would love all of these outfits for her music videos, a Year 6 replied that they see them more on Billie Eilish! Thank you to all those who collected and donated their recycling. Well done Year 6… Paris would be lucky!
