As most of Wales was being battered by the storms last weekend, students and staff from the Fashion and Photography for Fashion and Advertising (PFA) courses at the University spent Saturday and Sunday working on one of the largest collaborations in the history of the department.
The two-day photo-shoot, organised by PFA Senior Lecturer Donald Christie, brought together over 30 final year BA (Hons) Fashion Design students and 20 BA (Hons) Photography for Fashion & Advertising students.
The shoot was a culmination of six months of planning and an industry-facing research initiative. Also in attendance were budding make-up artists from Coleg Gwent, models from Bristol based Gingersnap Models and the Cult Team of hair stylists from Sebastian Professional, all working together to produce the images that will launch the careers of the 2012 Newport graduates.
Sebastian Professional, part of The Proctor and Gamble Company, invested over £10,000 into the project by sending hairdressers from their Cult Team to Newport. This relationship forms part of an ongoing commitment from Sebastian to work alongside the Photography for Fashion and Advertising course providing live industry briefs.
In 2011 the two courses worked together to produce the Newport Fashion Look Book, which was launched during Graduate Fashion Week in London. Many of the dsigners who contributed to the book have already gained employment, whilst others launched their own collections at London Fashion Week earlier this year.
Speaking during the photo shoot, Christian Hutter, Senior Lecturer in Fashion Design at the University, said: “Last year's book was incredibly successful, so this year we are trying to improve it further by working with professional models and stylists in order to showcase the amazing talent we have here in Newport.”
Hairstylist Dom Capel, who acts as the Sebastian Professional brand ambassador for P&G, said: “We are always interested in supporting new talent, and so when we were approached by Donald from the PFA course at Newport we thought it would be a great opportunity to allow our new team of stylists to work on a large photo shoot. I just can’t believe the quality of the work I’ve seen here. We often work at the major fashion shows in Europe and the US, and some of this work deserves to be there.”
The images from this year’s photo shoot will be unveiled at the Newport Fashion Show at the Riverfront Theatre on 23 and 24 May before being sent out to major fashion labels throughout the UK. Alongside the Newport Fashion Show there will also be a showcase of second year Photography for Fashion and Advertising work from the Live Brief project in the gallery and basement.
Should you wish to know more about opportunities to work with the students and staff of these courses, please contact Cheryl Moore, Business Development Manager via the University Information Centre on 01633 432432 or uic@newport.ac.uk.