Photo: Tristan Fewings/BFC
Yesterday afternoon Queen Elizabeth II sat front row for the first time in history at designer Richard Quinn’s London Fashion Week show. Sat between US Vogue editor Anna Wintour and British Fashion Council CEO Caroline Rush, she looked on as various discordant prints made their way down the runway, accessorised with silk headscarves and decaled motorcycle helmets: the designer’s own self-professed “tongue in cheek take on Balmoral.”
After the show the Queen presented the CSM alum with the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design, which recognises an emerging British designer for their “talent and originality, whilst demonstrating value to the community and/or sustainable policies”. The award acknowledges both Quinn’s own work as a designer and his industry altruism – last summer he opened an open-access print workshop in Peckham below his own studio, which offers both traditional and innovative digital and screen-printing services to young designers and peers. These services are provided at an affordable price, with the on hand expertise of Quinn and his technicians, and regular educational print and textile workshops also on offer.
Photo: Rebecca Lewis/BFC
Richard Quinn is a graduate of both BA and MA Fashion at Central Saint Martins. He established his namesake womenswear label in 2016 and hasn’t stopped since; last year he won the H&M Design Award, was listed in Dazed Magazine’s ‘Dazed100’, and named British Fashion Council’s ‘One to Watch’.
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