Wednesday Wish List – Bright Young Things

One of the things I love most about the London fashion scene is the tremendous amount of support offered to young, emerging designers. From New Gen and Fashion Fringe to Fashion East, there are so many initiatives to give creatives a platform and business mentoring which is why there is such a wealth of design talent who go on to make their mark on the international fashion industry. Bright Young Things is one of the newer initiatives, launched last year by iconic department store Selfridges. They provided young creatives the kind of exposure an emerging designer can only dream of – one of their much talked about and publicised window displays. The likes of Kirsty Ward, Simone Rocha, Martine Rose and Matthew Miller were part of the original line up and have gone on to achieve great things in 2011. 

This year, Bright Young Things is back, featuring fifteen young creatives from the worlds of fashion, art, design and food a once-in-a-lifetime platform to be featured in their windows from 6th January until the end of February 2012. The project is a fantastic way for these young designers to showcase their talent as they’re in control of everything from conception to realisation. They will also be selling their wares from three pop-up shops within the store and online. Guaranteed to be the ones to watch, this is a great opportunity to pick up pieces by the shining design talents of the future. Here are my top picks from my favourite womenswear designers: 

Left to right: 

Masc orange folded dress – £495

Maarten Van Der Horst Hedwig dress – £535

Adam Andrascik torn dress – £740

Alice Lee full skirted dress – £915

Here’s a full list of the talented creatives involved: 

WOMENSWEAR
• Sorcha O’Raghallaigh – womenswear designer and illustrator
• Adam Andrascik – womenswear designer
• Maarten van Horst – womenswear designer
• Alice Lee – womenswear designer
MENSWEAR
• Shaun Samson – menswear designer
• Astrid Anderson – menswear designer
• William Richard Green – menswear designer
• Alex Mattson – menswear designer
ACCESSORIES
• Oliver Ruuger – accessories designer
• T.lipop – menswear and accessories designer
ART & DESIGN
• Becky Sloan – artist and propmaker
• Tinker & Tailor – artists and interior designers
• Archie McLeish – graphic illustrator and product designer
• Nuha Razik – photographer
FOOD
• Jack Coleman – coffee roaster