CSM: Biggest Show Wins?

The Central Saint Martins BA Undergraduate Fashion Show Took Place Last Week

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Last week the latest crop of CSM designers showed us what they’ve got, as the class of 2025 Fashion Undergraduates held their infamous runway show. Central Saint Martins has notoriously produced many of the leading designers in luxury fashion today; from Stella McCartney, Riccardo Tisci and Grace Wales Bonner to John Galliano and Alexander McQueen. It is the breeding ground of next generation talent, albeit an exclusive and often inaccessible place to get in to. The talk over the years though has also been that fashion is producing more designers than the industry can cater for, coalescing into a troubling pathway for many graduates leaving education and trying to enter the workforce. Simultaneously occurring when the shelf life of designers is becoming shorter and shorter, being replaced with younger and hotter designers, or the widely documented same white men playing creative director musical chairs.

Over the years I’ve been to a few CSM fashion shows and the BA are the most carnal of all. It is a circus of expression; political, activist, sexual, all of them together and otherwise. It is perhaps the first and last chance for many designers to be as authentic as humanly possible, without the commercial pressures of selling clothes and having a viable business, nor the intimidating notion of translating the codes of a heritage house within their own language and vision, or keeping snooty shareholders happy. In a nutshell, it is their chance to do whatever the fuck they like, consequence-free.

Don’t Hold Back

Opportunity beckons. We can’t ignore that whilst this is potentially one last blow-out for many of the students, it is also a shop window. Brands, recruiters and potential future mentors are watching, so you better impress. The world is also watching, so it’s time to say what you want to say. Alongside future employers are the press - and nothing gets coverage more than bonkers shit, and this years’ grads did not disappoint. I’m not talking 2 foot mohicans and some skimpy latex, we are looking at robot dogs, Avatar-like blue and green body paint and incomprehensibly unwearable and, to the disdain of some models, totally un-walkable looks.