Bubblegum Club

Tag: Central Saint Martins

  • GOOM // Pushing the boundaries of menswear

    GOOM // Pushing the boundaries of menswear

    After starting off at Central Saint Martins studying womenswear print, GOOM designer Goom Heo reevaluated her position and felt the need to click pause. Being completely open about the fast-paced fashion lifestyle and the pressure that can come from being pushed into spaces that one is not ready for, Goom turned down potential placements with brands such as Dior, Kenzo and Margiela for a two year sabbatical from the industry, and went back home to Korea. However, she never stopped taking in the life she saw on the streets, and armed with her camera, she documented the trash that she found around Korea and China. Goom remembers one distinct moment, seeing a man roll up his t-shirt to expose his large belly, and no one around him being concerned about this.  For her this represents her decision to go back to CSM as well as the premise behind her final collection; not being concerned about what other people think and taking ownership of one’s fashion choices.

    Upon her return she switched to menswear, something that she hoped would wake her up creatively, considering that she had been out of the game for two years. Inspired by trash and the man she saw with his belly exposed, Goom translated the colours and textures from her photographs into her layered t-shirt design. Her final collection at CSM was a combination of these t-shirts, excessively broad shoulders for 80s-inspired tailored jackets and multicoloured turtlenecks. The collection was captured by blurry images, making the viewer absorb the garments through a trippy, hallucinatory glow.

    Having grown up in Korea, and spending one year in a small town in the US, Goom expressed how living in London while studying has allowed her to unleash her creativity, referring both to her own sense of style as well as her practice as a designer.

    “I thought I kind of wanted to do menswear in second year but I was scared of it because I thought of menswear having to be perfect with amazing sewing, pattern cutting and tailoring. But I thought ‘ok I can do that, or I can change it to be like something else’,” she expressed in an interview with Hunger, “I wouldn’t say my collection is 100% perfect or traditional menswear but you can still see hints of it. But what’s proper anyway?”

    Her collection is all about attitude, with male models walking assertively down the runway with shorts stretched over the bottom of oversized tailored jackets and white fishnet stockings pulled over models’ knees. Her decision to jump back into the industry received incredible validation when her collection won her the L’Oréal Professionnel Young Talent Award.

    Goom is currently embarking on her MA, and the fashion world cannot wait to see how she will elevate and/or transform her already well-known name.

  • Mowalola Ogunlesi: paying homage to Nigerian psychedelic rock through fashion

    Tight-fitting leather pants and jackets, accessorized with headlights, futuristic visors and car logos. This is the work of young designer Mowalola Ogunlesi who has grabbed the attention of fashion critics globally with the collection she put together for her grad show at Central Saint Martins.

    Being surrounded by the fashion world from a young age, with both of her parents being designers in Nigeria, Mowalola has always found the transformations that fabrics can go through enchanting. “I would go watch [my parents] work, and even try to create things myself as a child,” Mowalola expressed while reflecting back on how she knew fashion was what she wanted to invest in creatively.

    “I am playing on the relationship between African standards of male sexuality, bold energy and explosive prints,” Mowalola expressed when asked about her designs. Embracing Pan-Africanism, and its emphasis on cultural awareness and pride, her designs covert fabrics into a celebration of Nigerian heritage, a stylistic approach which is central to how she is building the identity for her label, Mowalola.

    Nigerian psychedelic rock from the ’70s and ’80s, the main source of inspiration for her grad show collection, quite fittingly, was also influenced by the Nigerian social landscape. This comes across in the songs by some of Mowalola’s heroes, Fela Kuti, Steve Monite, The Funkeez and Ofege. Explaining that she is “carving out [her] own futuristic signature” while paying homage to these artists and rock movement they pioneered, the collection is a direct translation of the wild guitar riffs and sweaty club scenes that she admires. “The collection is all about the celebration of the black African male – his culture, his sexuality and his desires,” Mowalola explains.

    In continuing with the powerful sonic energies that inspired the collection, the images for the lookbook created in collaboration with stylist Ib Kamara and photographer Ruth Ossai comes across as if vicariously taken in the ’80s, with the spirit of Fela Kuti from the past and future providing artistic direction.

    Mowalola will be taking her talents from the runway to a music video that she will be working on in Nigeria in the Summer.

    To keep up with her work check her out on Instagram.