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LCFBA18: Here are the graduates putting Creative Direction for Fashion on the map

Written by
Josh De Souza Crook Published date
05 June 2018

Ahead of our LCFBA18 showcase at Oval Space, east London, on 6 June, we will be shining the light on some of this season’s star graduates from design, media and communication courses at London College of Fashion. We meet BA (Hons) Creative Direction for Fashion graduates Araxie Boyadjian, Arthi Rangaraj, Renan Kawano and Caroline Wong to hear about their digital and dynamic work ahead of this cohort’s media and communication showcase.

LCFBA18 is taking place at Oval Space, east London, between 5-6 June.

LCFBA18 took place at Oval Space, east London, on 6 June 2018.

Araxie Boyadjian used her final project to explore and translate the link between art in fashion through an interactive digital medium. “This project is about an interactive digital experience that places the audience in a position to explore garments in a whole new way”, explains Araxie about her project. The video she created is designed to demonstrate the ways in which the audience can interact with the virtual space, “in one instance in the tear dress experience, the audience can tear a 3D landscape into a 2D fabric”, she tells us. During her second-year on BA (Hons) Creative Direction for Fashion, Araxie won a competition set by LCF and the Victoria & Albert Museum to bring a proposal to life in their courtyard. Her designed performance took place in the Madjeski Garden (watch Araxie’s work for Victoria & Albert Museum).

We asked her to explain her time at LCF, she told us, “My time at LCF was transformative, to say the least. Looking back at my work I realise how much I evolved as a creative. This university teaches independence, specifically in the creative direction course we were able to explore all angles of fashion media and find our voice in all the noise. I experimented with branding, photography, fashion film, styling, graphic design, space design, interactivity and future technologies just to name a few. To finally come to the final project in which we chose our favourite topic and explored the potential within it. I am thankful for my experience at LCF”.

Next up is Arthi Rangaraj, who created an alternative fashion publication that is set to launch this summer. Targeted at and around young creatives from south Asian and image-makers from around the world, there will be contributions from India, UK, USA and Bhutan. Plus Nine One is an alternative lo-fi fashion magazine and platform created for Arthi’s final project on BA (Hons) Creative Direction for Fashion. She wants to shape a new dialogue in contemporary fashion media in the south Asia market. We asked Arthi to tell us an interesting fact about herself, she said, “Nothing makes me happier than Star Wars? I’m also fiercely passionate about equal representation and empowering Indian women”. She said her time at LCF was a “rollercoaster, lots of ups and downs but absolutely exhilarating right through”.

Follow Arthi Rangaraj and Plus Nine One

Preview Plus Nine One.

Up next is Renan Kawano, who used his project to merge physical and digital worlds together to create a retro contemporary atmosphere. Renan wanted to update and adapt iconic graphics from Fiorucci that have been used over the decades for a digitally savvy multimedia audience. His project respects traditions of the brand while looking for modern new media touching points and ways to engage a younger audience. Renan’s aim is to offer retail experiences that individualise customer journeys and communications the brand to a more digitally engaged audience. We asked him to describe his time at LCF, he told us, “You spend all this time running around, producing, repeating, starting over, interning and think you got nowhere. That’s when 3rd-year hits and you have to revisit your 1st work and realise; well, actually, this might have been worth the ride”.

Closing our Creative Direction for Fashion series is graduate Caroline Wong. “My Final Major Project in its entirety consists of a print publication called The Annual, directory website and Instagram”, says Caroline about her project. The website is yet to go live but the Instagram account gives a good taste of what her online publication will be about. She featured work from 50 students across 13 different universities, all the editorial content is entirely shot and styled by current student too. Her interesting fact about herself is that she trained as a competitive swimmer until she was 7-years-old. We asked her to describe her time at LCF, she said, “LCF provided me with a safe haven to pursue the area of study that I wanted. I was met with quite a negative reception from both my school and my family when I decided I wanted to pursue a career in fashion and the arts, but LCF proved to be a safe space for me to be creative whilst surrounded by other like-minded people. Since starting at LCF, I’ve grown both as a creative practitioner and as a person. I don’t see myself as a failure anymore and I can only thank my course mates and my tutors for that. I’ve wholeheartedly enjoyed every second of my time at LCF and I’m glad I can finally leave education feeling confident in myself”.

Follow Caroline on Instagram