IT WAS A TRIUMPH! NO IT WAS A SENSATION!

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

27 models, representing 27 finalists, line up to be judged by Rankin, Matthew Williamson and Helena Christensen at the Triumph Inspiration Awards

The night before Fashion Week starts is always awash with parties. Last night Lily Allen launched her shop Lucy in Disguise at 10 King Street, Covent Garden and Fashion Editor at Large had nothing but good to say about it. Kate Moss also had a party to celebrate the launch of KM3D-1, a 3D film of Kate by Baillie Walsh. Selfridges launched their Shoe Galleries in spectacular style and Fendi had a private dinner with the east London gallery Fumi. However, my choice was to attend the grand finale of the Triumph Inspiration Award at the Old Sorting Office on New Oxford Street.

MW and HC posing up a storm

Now in it's third year, the Triumph Inspiration Award is an international competition with a top prize of  E15,000, and the winning design is produced and sold in Triumph stores across the world. Everyone was fizzing with excitement (and not just because there were beautiful lingerie models to ogle, though Rankin did look particularly happy) over the amazing young designers. The competition brief was 'Shape Sensation' and the objective? Well to create some of the world's most innovative lingerie pieces, of course! It was judged by, among other Matthew Williamson and Helena Christensen (above).

Obviously, this model is backstage

The fashion crowd took their seats for the high octane catwalk show, where each finalist had interpreted 'Shape Sensation' in their own unique way. We saw everything from carved wood, to wire hoops, to exploding balloons filled with rainbow coloured dust! The innovation was incredible, and it was intriguing to see how each person had taken a totally different approach to the design brief. The entire spectrum of styles were covered, including extreme, exaggerated femininity with embellished flowers, to sleek, sculptural designs including a body suit made of jointed, polished wood.

My favourites (as modelled by Helena Christensen, and shot by Rankin):

Ayumi Kawase (Japan) 'A Brassiere Imaging a Forest'

 Justin Singh (Canada) 'Sands of Time'

 Peet Dullart (Netherlands) 'Sensimotion'

 The judging panel included Rankin, Matthew Williamson and Helena Christensen, who all watched intently before disappearing off, Masterchef-style, to make their final decision.

The talented winners were:

1st - Nikolay Bojilov (Bulgaria) 'Morphology'

2nd - Amaya Carcamo (Spain) 'Wood Sensation'

3rd - Lodovico Loffreda (Italy)

All three looked overwhelmed as they picked up their trophies from Adam Garcia and Helena, none more so than the winner Nikolay Bojilov who did a victory walk with his winning design and the supermodel herself.

 The winners pick up their prizes!

A victory walk for the worthy winner

It was a super glamorous evening, with a few celeb faces in amongst the crowd (we spotted Donna Air, Alexandra Burke and the face of Triumph, Louise Redknapp). But the focus was firmly on the incredible designs - some of these young students clearly have a lot to offer the world of lingerie. I look forward to seeing what Nicolay does next.

The personal blog of Fashion Junior at Large can be found here

For more about Triumph http://www.triumph-inspiration-award.com/

Unleash Your Inner Child - Novelty Fashion is Here!

Guest Post By George Langford (Glitterbird)

In case anyone hadn't noticed, the weather is all over the place at the moment - one second sunshine, the next torrential rain. This seriously annoys Fashion Editor at Large and me, because it stops us indulging in the silly summery fashions that have tickled our fancy lately.

Readers may have spied Melanie's 'Funny Sunnies' piece in last week's Grazia, talking about all the kerazy sunglasses out there right now. Problem is, it is hard to rock some Marina-esque pineapple shades when it is cloudy and cold. Fear not! The fun doesn't have to stop when the sun goes in; the alternative sartorial craze at the moment is nutty novelty jumpers. Vintage stores are bursting at the seams with these bright, patterned pieces, which are perfect summer sweaters.  Beyond Retro, Rokit and Ebay are all one stop shops for deliciously OTT jumpers.

A basic rule of thumb for picking your knits: the more it looks like your Nan made it, the better. In fact Kingston Menswear graduate David Stoneman-Merret took the Nan theme literally in his final collection, featuring a digitized sweater design based on a snap of his own Grandma.

(Spot the Difference)

From her insider position at GFW, Susie Lau has already been raving about David's work on Style Bubble

If the sun does reappear and it is too hot for jumpers (we can live in hope!) then turn to the work of amazing Central Saint Martins Menswear graduate Alex Mullins. His exceptional talent has just seen him join an elite group of eight students accepted onto the Royal College MA Menswear course. Mullins' final collection was inspired by iconic movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and was a brash, bold, one-fingered gesture to the establishment - basically using acid brights and anarchic imagery to 'stick it to the man'. 

Alex Mullins

The irreverent novelty theme continued through the rest of the graduate collections - we spotted Sera Ulger's puffin dress (Glitterbird's favourite!) in the Rankin/GFW campaign shots, as well as Kitty Keays' frivolous fringing. 

 Sera Ulger

K

Kitty Keay

Fashion Editor at Large is waiting to see if any of these beauties make it through to the Graduate Fashion Week Gala show tonight. Watch this space...

(Images: Grazia, Catwalking.com - Christopher Moore Limited, Rankin)