I really wanted to capture every moment of being at the school. It was art, it was identity and expression… and it was fashion at its newest and most innovative form. I thought I knew fashion, I really did, but that was before I started my first semester at LCF and before my eyes were opened to the constant inspiration, and motivation to scrap everything I knew before and take some notes. It was hard to sleep here, my mind was constantly thinking of new ideas and new projects to create, and more and more I felt compelled to share this energy. I wanted to put together a shoot of something that would grasp the persona of just being at the school, or in my residence, to show how fashion truly is the one industry that will never die.
What is fashion? That’s what they asked me for my finals. What is it? Who is it? Why is it alive? That’s what they teach you in fashion school. Not to demean it, in no way was it a sham, con nor decoy of real education… in essence… reality. It was dark, artistic and made me feel a little more accepted by society. That’s because it was the fashion school. The London College of Fashion. The birthplace of none other than Alexander McQueen, Jimmy Choo and Tim Roth. Fashion to me was survival. It was looking in a mirror, and seeing a person you want to become. It was discipline, research and imagination. It I was hard work and patience, and it was disappointment. It was seeing a reflection, but only the reflection is who you want to be, not who you are. Then you dress and act like that reflection.
How do I become that person? I wondered that my whole life. That’s when I fell in love with fashion, because it kept me closer to that person I wanted to see in the mirror. And further than the person I was seeing. I think of it like survival. Each day we wake up feeling alright until we look in the mirror. No seriously, it brings a sense of reality. That dream you had last night about orchestrating a love affair, or being up on a stage is now over and dead. It’s called realizing your dreams are scarier than your reality.
Credits:
Shot by: Ashley Yang
Make up by: Georgia Bandack
Written by: Jessie Graham