What Happened At Central Saint Martins’ White/Light Show 2021
Involving all first year fashion students at the prestigious London university, SHOWstudio goes behind the scenes to uncover what happened at this year's White/Light Show 2021.
Involving all first year fashion students at the prestigious London university, SHOWstudio goes behind the scenes to uncover what happened at this year's White/Light Show 2021.
December means one thing and one thing only for Central Saint Martins fashion students: The White Show. Considered the most important event of the year for the university and some industry insiders too, (with photographer Robin Derrick commenting in a recent Instagram post,' in my opinion this is always the best fashion show of the year!'), the student runway show is a firm staple in the fashion calendar. Renamed The Light Show this year, all first year design students (that's 140 in total), make a garment using nothing but white, un-patterned fabric. It's a rite of passage for all involved (colloquially know as the baptism of fire), requiring efforts from all first years who have been granted a place at the prestigious university. Despite each year following the same theme of white on top of white, there's still always room for immense surprise (this is Central Saint Martins after all), so prepare to be bedazzled.
Holding an impressive 25 year long legacy, the 2021 show is centred around the theme of perception, consisting of three segments: the physical exhibition pre-show, the catwalk and a virtual reimagining of the two with each stage allowing the young hopeful designers to use the new divided format as an opportunity to showcase their excellent skill, experimentation, precision and execution when it comes to pattern cutting. Just when you think you've finally seen it all, the designs seem to get ever-so-slightly madder, larger and most certainly weirder. However, this year's show slightly differed from last year's (which suffered under the imposing lockdown limitations), meaning The White/Light Show 2021 saw a return to the catwalk format after nearly two years - hurrah!
See a selection of work by some of the students below, watch the runway show here, and check back on the White Show website to see the show in its entirety.
Electra Bruce Smith, Emanuele Morcinelli, Hannah Dixey, Hennessy Flohd, Jayden Tudor, Joe Fearron, Marshall McGlone, Roy Carmona, Sara Mickoriy, Xinyi Tao and Yuura Asano. Photography by fashion communication students Zacharie Lewertoff and Orien Hough.
