fashionUK

The final day of this year's Alternative Fashion Week saw a variety of collections ranging from the understated to blatant exhibitionism. Kayla Nolan takes the new season's fascination with fake fur and applies it to a collection themed on 'the sensuality of insects' complete with knee pads and antennae-like hair accessories.		Nicki Pumpkin's urban warrior look brilliantly catches the mood of the moment. Baby rucksacks, zipped scooter jackets, bum flaps and luminous nylon trousers. The influences are both cyber and ethnic, with tight T's paired with Oriental tunics and embroidered pedal pushers. The hair and make-up was equally compelling Ñ models donned pipe-cleaner style hair extensions in bright red, blue and greenA rainbow of colour, the collection includes hand-painted cards repeating the motifs from the garments.
	Marie Sylvester aims to offer a collection of 'funky menswear that women love to buy for men'. Classic silky jumpers, knitted vests and extra-long sleeved shirts form the focus of her collection.	Marie updates corduroy trousers by tie-dying and adding sparkly spots on the lower leg. Consisting of just four outfits, this is still an impressive collection.
Things took an Eastern turn with Kelly Lawrenson's womenswear collection.		All the outfits are geometric creations in solid cream . Shown together, these seven pieces form their own architectural space. The collection features pedal pushers combined wth a tiny zip jacket, a huge triangular dress, and a single boiler suit. The paper anti-pollution and wire hair sculptures complemented the eerie cleanliness of this collection.
	Waltham College's resourcefulness showed itself in two ways. Firstly, their collection is sponsored by the Rainbow and Dove Public House in Harlow (nice one!) and secondly, many of the students recycled materials to create their version of a groovy raincoat. Almost all the raincoats were transparant plastic and made from a variety of materials from cling film to film negatives. Ingrid Bullock and Justin McCarthy joined forces to bring us a 'B-boy/ Fly Girl' collection dedicated to all things street. T-shirts with 'culdesac' logos feature alongside canvas mini skirts worn with long white socks and trainers. Slouchy hooded sweat tops, wool hats and scooter jackets form the mainstay of this skatey collection.
Finally, Surrender gave us a weird vision of humanity with their metallic and plastic body armour. One-sided outfits (full armour at the front, nothing but a few leather straps at the back) had the audienced whooping.		Then a female charger in what looked liked stainless steel leg and body plates appeared and brandished her very long sword. Some of Surrender's outfits look very painful to wear putting fetish way before fashion.