Sat 30 Apr 2005

Degrees of success

GILLIAN WELSH

It's a fact. When the style bible Vogue decides what's hip, we sit up and take note. In this month's edition the magazine has named Edinburgh as one of the top 16 fashion destinations in the world, and although for residents in the know the accolade seems to be a few years too late, for a handful of young designers the timing couldn't have been better.

The current crop of talented students at Edinburgh College of Art are preparing for their final degree show. At this crucial point in their careers, they are following in some illustrious footsteps. Famous alumni include the Scottish figurative painter John Bellany and the architect Sir Basil Spence, whose designs include the iconic "Beehive" government building in Wellington, New Zealand, the British Embassy in Rome and Coventry Cathedral.

Over the years a number of ECA graduates have gone on to work for some of the world抯 most famous fashion companies. Take April Crighton. She has worked for the French design house Sonia Rykiel since her college days in Edinburgh and Central St Martins College of Art and Design in London, and was responsible for the hugely successful diffusion line, Sonia/Sonia Rykiel, which launched ten years ago.

Then there is Stewart Parvin, a member of the team of talented designers who dress the Queen for formal occasions. In April 2002 she wore a Parvin-designed ice-blue beaded floor-length dress to the Jubilee party thrown for her by Tony Blair. Last year, on her fourth state visit to France, she wore an ivory design by the ECA graduate for a Paris reception.

The fashion royalty have also been quick to recognise ECA's finest. Carnoustie-born Graeme Black studied fashion at the college before moving to London in the early 1990s, where he worked for Zandra Rhodes and John Galliano. Shortly after, he landed a highly coveted job at Armani's headquarters in Milan before moving on to head up one of Armani's competitors, Ferragamo.

Two recent success stories have been those of Yong Hei Fong, the fashion graduate who won the prestigious Alexander McQueen/American Express Award for Innovation in 2002, as well as the Topshop Collection of the Year Award at Graduate Fashion Week. He now works for designer label Ghost in London. Performance and Costume graduate, Alison Mitchell, meanwhile, has just finished creating the costumes for the feature film, The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby, due for release in October.

This year's crop is no different. The three students profiled here demonstrate the depth of talent at ECA.

Ian Tod

Ian Tod and his knitted dormouse, one of 81 characters based on the Noah's Ark theme. Pictures: Angus Bremner

AGED 21, from Kinross.
Course - Final year in Performance Costume.
Future - A career in television or illustration after a year out.

You may not think that a dormouse would take a long time to make, but when you see this costume, you realise it must have been a long and arduous process.

Tod, from Milnathort, knows more than most about mice. Brought up in the countryside, he spent years of his childhood studying them, as well as all the other animals you might expect to see while cycling around Kinross.

His passion for animals has led him to devote a third of his graduation show to a modern day Noah's Ark. There are 81 characters in his project, eight of whom are humans, with the rest being a mixture of birds, mammals, insects and reptiles. Each animal has been designed according to personality from the biblical story, or based on the human stereotypes each animal is said to portray.

The vulture, for example, is said to be the undertaker of the animal world, so Tod presents it dressed in a black Victorian ensemble. Another striking character is the horse, as re-interpreted by Tod's febrile imagination. "When I think of a horse the image that comes to my mind is the Italian stallion, so mine wears a disco outfit like something John Travolta would sport in Saturday Night Fever," he says.

Tod has followed this highly individual thought process through with all of his characters, including his peacock drag queen, the anteater insect collector, and the army officer eagle.

Drawing again on childhood passions, Tod turned to his favourite comics for degree show inspiration. Sixteen characters were combined from The X-Men and Thundercats, which he presents in the superhero comic-book style.

Tod also draws from popular culture, in particular the camp and brassy New York band, Scissor Sisters, and the Australian icon, Dame Edna Everage. In fact he admits that he is inspired by "anything drag". His fondness for full-throttle glam is seen in his larger-than-life Winnie the Witch, a character in the children's novel of the same name by Valerie Thomas. The book illustrates the witch wearing a traditional black pointed hat and robes, so he decided to twist the image into a colourful pantomime-inspired character.

No surprise then, that he counts the wardrobes in the films Hedwig and the Angry Inch and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert among his favourites. Kylie's stage shows are also in keeping with his theatrical taste. He loves drama and the flamboyant styles of designers such as John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier. "Their shows are much more than just models walking up and down the catwalk," he says.

He also turns closer to home for guidance. His mother taught him the art of finger-knitting as well as the conventional method with needles - both techniques proved very handy when it came to dressing the dormouse.

Despite his fun, Warhol-esque hairdo and bright 1980s-inspired Kids-From-Fame sweatshirt, Performance Costume's youngest student is a serious fashion talent. After graduating it's time out to concentrate on paying back his student debt. And then? The fashion world awaits.