EXTRA chairs had to be put out for last Saturday night's end-of-year fashion show at University College of Wales Newport.
Despite traffic chaos caused by a fatal crash on the A4042 and streaming out of the nearby Welsh Open, the show proved such a hit, part of Friday night's audience had to be turned back at the door.
Once all the fashionably late arrivals had been seated it was easy to see the attraction.
The level of professionalism attained by the designers, models, and audio-visual production team created a show which would not look out of place in London Fashion Week.
There were about 20 collections of clothes to be shown, a vast amount of work by anyone's standards.
Although the focus was on the collections of third year (graduating) students, the show was interspersed with the work of first and second years and they didn't let the side down.
The college has a good track record of producing designers, fashion forecasters and fashion journalists, some of whom are working in Europe's top fashion houses.
Last year the college was invited to exhibit at Clothes Show Live at the Birmingham NEC and it has been invited back on the strength of its performance.
The course mentor is Sharon Rees and dressed in a sparkling black evening dress she took on the role of show narrator.
The collections included clothes for just about every occasion and many for which an occasion has yet to be invented.
The names of the collections were adroitly chosen as were the accompanying soundtracks.
Examples included Skin Deep, Mother of Pearl, Eight Degrees of Separation, Home Made Hope and Valkyrie.
Dark Side of the Moon featured an ancient allegory of goodness and evil played-out by innocent models in white gowns and more sinister types in black.
It was reminiscent of the Shakespeare's Sister video to accompany the track Stay, although this one was played out to some powerful classical music.
Valkyrie offered some beautiful leather-based outfits and a brilliant catwalk equivalent of nightclub cage dancing.
Farfarla took a Neptune-inspired theme to create evening wear in turquoise and pale greens which the gave the impression of having been made up by beachcombers.
Set against the music of Morcheeba, it created a beautiful, dreamlike impression.
The Mother of Pearl collection contained evening wear based on a fabric that offered a shimmering metallic quality.
The cut was traditional and flattering and was much appreciated by an audience thinking 'I could wear that!'.
Set to the old classic of La Mere it was almost a Noel Coward moment. Skindeep was also memorable for two reasons.
The first was the impressive tailoring of the models' tight-fitting leather outfits, and the second some unplanned choreography. At one point I thought one of the girls was going to throw herself off the catwalk in frustration after a series of missed cues!
But it did no harm and added a humorous note to the evening which was reinforced in 'Local Talent' by a special guest appearance of Fine Art and Multi-Media student Douglas Turner.
Playing very much against type, he assumed the role of a high street Romeo in hot pursuit of the college's racy models.
The show was a fantastic achievement and conveyed the impression that many of this year's fashion graduates can look forward to long and exciting careers in the rag trade.
* Pictured: Gemma Hirst wears a dress by Kamal Ali
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