CC Kuo
After cutting her design teeth with labels such as Alexander McQueen and Preen, Central Saint Martins graduate CC Kuo set up her own label in 2009. Edgy and urban in concept, but high end and opulent in fabrication, the designer’s summer collection has become an editorial favourite thanks to digital prints inspired by the designer’s mum’s jewellery and emblazoned on swathes of sheer silk. For Autumn, expect a recurring motif of broad check prints played out on silk shifts tailored trousers and flashes of skin via sheer knitwear. Available on Beachtomato.com and notjustalabel.com
Masha Ma
Masha Ma lives and works between Shanghai and Paris, where she made her solo catwalk debut this March. The multiple bursary winner caught the industry eye with her intricate and elaborate tailoring and was most recently catapulted into the big league when a certain Lady Gaga wore her designs head to toe to meet President Obama at the White House. Her AW12 collection is the perfect expression of her approach to femininity: clean of palette, opulent of fabric and extravagant of line. Our favourites are the long-line clinging evening dresses, balanced out by short sharp and shaggy jackets which , she says, were inspired by an Oscar Wilde story, ‘The Nichtingale and the Rose’.
Yang Du
Surrealist designer Yang Du was born and raised in Dalian, China and moved to London to do the renowned fashion MA at Central Saint Martins under the guidance of Louise Wilson. After graduation her exuberant designs – cartoonish, outsize and downright fun – were picked up by Harvey Nichols in Hong Kong and then by On|Off who showed her collections for two seasons in London and this March in Paris. Counting Marina Diamandis and Paloma Faith as fans, her AW12 collection is a psychadelic trip on Noah’s Ark – picture wild wolves on jumper dresses, winking owl backpacks and giant smiling giraffes.
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