Fashion to the fore for the visit by The Duchess of York
The Duchess of York reviewing students' work
Fri, 17 Jun 2016 11:53:00 BST
The Duchess was special guest at the Graduate Costume Show at the Lawrence Batley Theatre
► The Duchess of York was welcomed to the University by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bob Cryan
THE Duchess of York – a popular children’s author – has seen one of her most famous characters reimagined by a group of talented students at the University of Huddersfield. Meanwhile, her Princess daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, have been poring over stylish designs for clothes that fashion students have created for them.
When she paid her latest visit to the University – where her former husband HRH The Duke of York is Chancellor – The Duchess was shown the results of three projects devised with her in mind.
A group of students were challenged to produce costume designs that could be used in a staged version of the adventures of Little Red, a character devised by The Duchess for a series of storybooks.
When she saw the results, The Duchess was delighted by the new interpretations of a character she said that she first sketched on a napkin in 1995.
Lily Makinson – a first-year costume design-with-textiles student from Manchester – had reimagined Little Red as a 1980s teenager, enabling her to express her love of the decade’s fashions. Gemma Newsome, from Barnsley, was inspired by the woodland scenes in the Little Red books and she pictured the main character as a free-spirited country girl. She also designed masks that could be worn by actors portraying the badgers that were Little Red’s playmates. Marthe Ney, of Poulton, thought in terms of a vintage toy box. Her Little Red was a rag doll and her companions included Gino the Dog, designed as a pull-along toy on wheels.
The Duchess – escorted by Senior Lecturer Nicola Redmore – was absorbed by the designs, picked out her favourites and praised “some really great ideas” that could be translated into a stage version of her tales. She explained the origin of Little Red, as a character who stood up for children’s rights and was a survivor who “just wants to be herself”.
Lecturer Nicola Redmore explained that the textiles expertise that was part of the students’ course meant that their designs could be realised as actual stage costumes.
A group of first-year fashion design students were challenged to design an outfit for either or both the Duchess’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, which they could wear at London Fashion Week.
Fashion design lecturer Emma Grain introduced the four students who presented their designs. Celine Constantinides, of Clitheroe, who has a passion for gothic styles, was inspired by the medieval stained glass windows of York Minster and used them in various ways – including photo-printing, laser-cutting and embroidery – as the pattern for skirts. Gemma Ibison, of Preston, also had a historical slant. She examined the costume collection at Manchester Art Gallery and used them as the basis for all-new autumn and winter clothes for the princesses. Amy Bean, of Halifax, took her inspiration from photographs of storms and their dramatic colours and Chelsea Flinn, from Preston, came up with fresh, modern designs for jump suits that would suit Princess Beatrice.
When the Duchess was shown designs for her daughters, the University’s Head of Fashion, Dr Kevin Almond, said it would be good to get feedback from the princesses themselves. The Duchess promised that this would happen… and she took the portfolios away with her.
Key to Freedom Charity
One of the Duchess of York’s main charitable endeavours is a project named Key to Freedom, which aims to help women in India achieve independence by learning textile skills, using them to create products then sold in outlets such as Topshop.
In 2015, University of Huddersfield students came up with a range of designs that were selected for Key to Freedom by the Duchess. Now, a group of second-year textile students were challenged to devise designs that could be used for printed fashion and textile products in a chalet in Switzerland that takes its name from the Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal.
Rachel Critchley, of Skipton, took her inspiration from Nepalese wildlife – the snow leopard and the Himalayan tahr. She used the distinctive shapes of the creatures to create her own patterns that could be used in a variety of fabrics. Charlotte Cowan, of Grassington, used an outline map of Switzerland and the Swiss flag to create her designs. She also used the colours that experts believe will be trending in 2017/18. Bethan Walker, from Wakefield, used the profile of Alpine mountains as the inspiration for her designs, that could be printed on to products such as toiletry bags made by the Key to Freedom women. The designs of Tara Sood, inspired by the Swiss landscape, were also on display for the Duchess.
Asked to choose her favourite designs, the Duchess eventually plumped for Rachel’s snow leopard collection and Bethan’s Alpine designs.
Later, the theme of the Duchess’s visit continued when she was escorted to Huddersfield’s Lawrence Batley Theatre for the 2016 Graduate Costume Show. She was entertained by a succession of innovative and beautiful designs from Costume with Textiles BA students who have just completed their courses. Famous characters from fiction provided the inspiration for the show.
