The RCA Fashion Show: Our Favourite Moments

Marking the start of London Fashion Week Men's and the UK General Election, it's safe to say that it was a pretty poignant night for the Royal College of Art's annual fashion show. 48 talented MA students presented their collections through performance, installations, music and choreography to an audience of esteemed fashion faces. Earmarked as yearly showcase for fresh talent, Vogue rounds up the standout moments and the names to note.

Disco Fever

Walking into the industrial-like East London studio, audience members were met by bedazzling giant disco balls, creating an almost glitter-like environment for the show. Flashes of sparkling light made for a startling and electrifying setting; an apt atmosphere to mirror the exceptional creative talents of the designer collections that were on show.

Spiritual Awakening

First up was womenswear designer Zahra Sooty Hosseini, whose four-part gown design was showcased as audience members trickled it. Worn by a model sat with her head bowed down in a prayer-like position, the show began as three fellow models entered the runway, each helping to unclip the gown's billowing skirt so that it spread across the catwalk resembling a prayer-mat before all four women began to utter a series of prayers in sync. It was a powerful introduction to the innovative and politically motivated collections which followed.

Feathered Fancies

An invasion of colour, maximalist textures and a Miu Miu-like abundance of feathers brightened the catwalk as Rosie Danford-Phillips's collection took to the stage. Influenced by "an intense desire to infect sterile white spaces with nature", Danford-Phillips's uplifting designs added an injection of vibrancy to the roster of talent on display.

Redefining The Domestic Goddess

"Tick, tick, boom" were the words repeated from what sounded like a Forties radio recording as Pippa Harries's conceptual collection came down the catwalk. Her designs cleverly reflected the intrinsic domesticities of everyday life through a series of sartorial motifs, with one model dragging a tired-looking iron down the catwalk whilst another repeatedly blew her nose in a scrunched up hankerchief. "The dynamics to human interaction and how this translates in personality is prominent in my practice. I utilise this interest to investigate the relationship between wearer and their clothing habits, creating the archetypes of the ordinary routine. This allows me to appreciate tradition and classic line, whilst celebrating the ritual of routine," she explained.

Mad Hatters And Their Giant Apple

It was all Alice in East London Wonderland for millinery designer Jing Tang, who showcased her elaborate hat designs on three male models, wheeling out a giant apple which they subsequently opened to reveal a rotten interior. Citing Issey Miyake and John Cage as influences, Tang's unique exhibition concluded the show's first half with eccentric excellence. Once the lid had been lifted off the remarkably shiny apple, out came a stream of waiters offering flutes of champagne and pork sliders to the audience. A very classy combo indeed.