A Phoebe English And Charles Jeffrey Project Unravelled: Central Saint Martins Style

Most of us can relate to the pressure on students nowadays as many of us have been there first hand, suffering the wrath of teachers and exams alike. But what about Central Saint Martins? Fashion school can be hard enough, but what if you're a student at the world's number one university for fashion design? What's it like then?

Meet six second year students who shed no remorse when it comes to talking about the helpful or (funny) advice given by their predecessors, and now assistant lecturers, Charles Jeffrey and Phoebe English, in a new project undertaken by the school's Fashion Design with Marketing pathway. With final designs sporting statements of eternal truths felt by students all over, such as 'I feel like I should be more, do more! Live more, see more!', to benefitting from Jeffrey's top tip to never use Microsoft PowerPoint in an unironic manner ever again, the ever-imitable fashion students of Central Saint Martins declare all they did, all they learnt and all they produced in their latest project at the fashion school mecca.

SPENCER CARROLL

How did you decide to interpret the brief for this project? Can you talk a bit about how your starting point and research began?

I began by looking into the idea behind how our online personas are judged, situated in the context of how social media's addictive power has made individuals care more about how they are perceived online than in reality. I wanted to create an immersive visual experience by mixing physical and digital mediums and presenting these through film and experimental imagery. I used an API (Application Programming Interface) to gather hate comments from social media posts directed at Adele and her cancelled Las Vegas shows to generate the text used on my garments - I wanted to show how powerful the words are when shown on a human.

What were your key inspirations and reference points?

The graphic elements were inspired by retro Teletext typography from memories of my grandparent's house, where they always had Teletext on the TV for news updates; I loved the typefaces and colours on the black screen. Also, the artist Jenny Holzer was an inspiration and her use of text, particularly with her illuminated digital LED work.

What are you taking away from the project for future work?

I experimented with 3D scanning and augmented reality on this project, and, along with VR and AI, I can see how this will be integral to the future of designing and showcasing clothing which is something I want to explore a lot more.

What mistakes did you come across along the way. How have you learned from them?

I definitely underestimated how long it takes to learn some of the editing programmes I wanted to use, so in the future, I will be learning from the start of the project, which will allow even more experimentation.

What's the most helpful piece of advice Charles Jeffrey and/or Phoebe English gave you?

Charles gives a broad and dynamic vision to everything; his advice always pushes me to explore further. One piece of advice that has stuck with me would be how as a designer, you need to completely step into the narrative you are creating and constantly refer back to the idea or emotion that excited you in the beginning. Phoebe showed me the importance of working with my ideas on a physical level and to stand back and observe the form. She also taught me that there is beauty in the detail of materials, which helped make final decisions.

TASNIM CHOWDHURY

How did you decide to interpret the brief for this project? Can you talk a bit about how your starting point and research began?

This was a project I started for the Experimental Textile project, and I really enjoyed it. I wanted to emerge myself into the story further and create something playful and nostalgic. Something that makes you think of a past memory or that homesick feeling. That odd feeling in between still feeling like a kid when you're going into your twenties.

What were your key inspirations and reference points?

I used references from when I was growing up. I looked back at books, films, family photos and home videos. I used a lot of old music videos and magazines for my references - all things that inspired me when I was younger.

What are you taking away from the project for future work?

Hopefully, I'd like to keep continuing this concept in the future. I feel like there are so many new characters, stories, and garments to create. My styling and researching processes were helpful towards the outcome, so I would like to keep this routine for my other projects in the future.

What mistakes did you come across along the way. How have you learned from them?

Underestimating my time! Especially for this project, I wanted to allow myself time to make more pieces I had initially designed for the shoot. However, to solve this, I decided to focus on the styling aspect to balance my initial vision for each character and look.

What's the most helpful piece of advice Charles Jeffrey and/or Phoebe English gave you?

I think both Phoebe and Charles helped me take a step back and really look at my work during the process. Once I'd given the project time, things started to blend together. This allowed me to find pieces that were missing and helped develop my work further.

ELLA DOUGLAS

How did you decide to interpret the brief for this project? Can you talk a bit about how your starting point and research began?

My project started as a result of clearing out my gran's house - a modern-day cabinet of curiosities. She had thousands of brooches, necklaces and Douglas Clan memorabilia hidden in weird crevices. My research inspired me to reinterpret my Scottish history using my grandma's curiosities to showcase my visual identity. I wanted my project to explore the history of the Douglas Clan through a retrospective of my garments.

What were your key inspirations and reference points?

Throughout my research, I made it necessary to reference the positioning and motions of my crazy Scottish clan. My main inspiration was the Bayeux Tapestry; the incredible scale of the piece inspired me, and I wanted my outcome to mirror this. Using a panoramic shot, I captured the essence of a battle scene, as if someone had stopped time and taken a photo of the movement and motions of my clan. The formation and positioning of the performers mirror the fluidity of the tapestry.

What are you taking away from the project for future work?

This project allowed me to experiment across pathways, and in particular, creative direction. Furthermore, I learnt how useful it is to experiment within different disciplines and the importance of working in a team with like-minded people. This project helped me understand who I am as an artist and how my brand relies on being multidisciplinary.

What mistakes did you come across along the way. How have you learned from them?

I think we can all agree it is quite difficult to time manage a project, especially when a team is involved. This project has taught me to plan ahead, mainly when booking a studio in time. I have learnt to start the planning process earlier to allow room for improvement.

What's the most helpful piece of advice Charles Jeffrey and/or Phoebe English gave you?

Charles Jeffrey's advice is always practical; he has been in our position and understands our minds. Every piece of advice he gave me really resonated with me. In particular, he allowed me to break down my ideas and balance the mad rush of concepts with a well-considered, thought out approach. My brain thinks black and white, he allowed me to find a middle ground.

ADAM FAURSCHOU

How did you decide to interpret the brief for this project? Can you talk a bit about how your starting point and research began?

Don't tell my tutors, but I actually didn't look at the brief much. It said something about 'creating your own visual identity', but whenever I think too much about who I am as a designer, I spiral into paralysis. I researched briefly, wrote some ideas down and started experimenting as soon as possible.

What were your key inspirations and reference points?

I found these x-ray images by Nick Veasey, and since my garment is made using copper wire, I just wanted to try replicating an x-ray. There was another image of some men standing at a urinal which had a profound and inspiring effect on me. There is this ridiculous Danish clickbait newspaper with a wicked layout, which I replicated to the best of my ability to create an ironic distance to an otherwise, quite posey photoshoot.

What are you taking away from the project for future work?

I've learned to schedule like I mean it - it's the only way to make sure you get all the important stuff done.

What mistakes did you come across along the way. How have you learned from them?

I've learned to let the work speak more for itself instead of over-explaining a concept or the process. It ruins the experience for the audience.

What's the most helpful piece of advice Charles Jeffrey and/or Phoebe English gave you?

Phoebe taught me to get my work onto real bodies early on in the process to see how the different shapes, textiles, move and read IRL instead of on a small sketchbook page.

Charles advised me not ever to use PowerPoint unironically again.

CHRISTOPHER ANTONIO HARVEY

How did you decide to interpret the brief for this project? Can you talk a bit about how your starting point and research began?

I saw the brief as the chance to truly create a world containing all the allusive references I have married together from my previous research. The way my research grew and developed was a very organic process; it started with looking at the connections that all my work shares - I began by sketching and drawing my muses to drive the story, then will twist these into a new narrative.

What were your key inspirations and reference points?

Primarily, I looked at Salome - written in 1923 by Oscar Wilde - and Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations of the play, as they share this grotesque romance with a hint of fetishism which I am fascinated by. Specifically, Salome's last dance was the visual atmosphere I wanted to adopt into the project.

What are you taking away from the project for future work?

I found the project overwhelming at times because there were so many details I had to go over repeatedly. The most valuable thing I have learnt is the importance of collaboration. I enjoyed working with incredibly talented creatives and being able to bring people in that understand my point of view. I also like being around people whose work I respect.

What mistakes did you come across along the way. How have you learned from them?

Sometimes I think too deeply and concentrate too much on the detail - I overwhelm myself - but when it came to the shoot, I found it flowed naturally, as all the components like my narrative, the casting and photography perfectly blended. I've also learned that not everything needs to be controlled, and sometimes it's better to let the work speak for itself.

DYLAN LEUNG

How did you decide to interpret the brief for this project? Can you talk a bit about how your starting point and research began?

The research was a continuation of my previous project with Phoebe English. I wanted to reimagine my garments in the context of the world they were inspired by. The garments explore a new take on medieval style tailoring, and I wanted the digital communication to reflect this, revisiting the classic renaissance painting and reinventing the process.

What were your key inspirations and reference points?

The early renaissance largely inspired me; a fascination with 16th century portraiture was what really influenced the garments and thus the communication. I referenced many portraits and paintings by Titian (1488-1576) to create an outcome that was as authentic and convincing as possible.

What are you taking away from the project for future work?

I want to continue portraying my garments in a context where my research and references are evident and accessible to my audience, as I feel that this can create a more intimate and inclusive narrative with my work.

What mistakes did you come across along the way. How have you learned from them?

I felt my ambition was restricted by my lack of knowledge in the techniques and processes needed to achieve my vision. Through trial and error and experimentation, I learned new and different techniques, which pushed my ambition further and led to a more considered outcome.

What's the most helpful piece of advice Charles Jeffrey and/or Phoebe English gave you?

Through talking to both Charles and Phoebe, it was important for me to communicate my obsession with detail not only through my garments but also through the way they are presented. I found the technical processes of these projects particularly intimate, so I wanted to make my outcome and visual communication equally intimate and accessible to everyone.