Fashion Fringe - the panel and finalists

We've been following the panel debate for Fashion Fringe at Covent Garden all day. John Galliano chaired the event and he was joined, in discussion on London's creativity and the future of fashion, by Nick Knight, founder and director of SHOWstudio.com, and fashion empress Lady Amanda Harlech.

10 semi-finalists were invited to London, tested in a technical day at LCF and then grilled before the panel of fashion dragons.

Fashion Fringe was conceived in 2003 by Colin McDowell, fashion historian and Sunday Times Style Contributor, and is an annual project designed to coincide with London Fashion Week and showcase young British fashion talent.

The 3 finalists will showcase their collections at LFW in September. They'll spend the next three months in an intensive mentoring programme, and with studio space at the London College of Fashion, and technical assistance, they'll create 8-12 “looks” for their capsule collection.

Here's a selection of the questions put to the panel, from the Twitter feed running all day:

To Nick: what is creativity?

Nick: fashion is extremely exciting at present. The internet has changed the evolution of fashion and retail. Fashion film is taking over. It's a fascination time to work in fashion with a huge amount of creativity.

To the panel: do we want the whole world to know about the process of fashion?
Nick: there is the reality of the world and how we imagine it should be. People no longer want to travel the world to see collections.

To the panel: how does the approach to film and stills change the creative process of communication?
Nick: when still photos are taken, the vision is compromised. Garments are created to be seen in movement. Stills to film is 100% different. There are perimeters (sic) to be learned about fashion film eg. you need music that follows fashion.

To the panel: is fashion film a silent movie?
Nick: no narrative is implied in still. Fashion film inserts movement, gives the dynamic of a still and communicates the essence of the design.

Well Galliano didn't say much, did he? What was he doing, twiddling his luxurious moustache?

Here's a bit of blurb from their website:

"For 2010 the challenge is to reinvent the sense of adventure in London fashion. Fashion Fringe at Covent Garden is looking for cutting edge, iconoclastic talent in design and creativity to continue the tradition of Vivienne Westwood, Hussein Chalayan and the late Alexander McQueen."

The finalists were Alice Palmer, Jade Cang and Carly Neilson. Congrats!

The Advisory Panel included:

Anna Wintour, Vogue
Anne Pitcher, Selfridges
Claudia Croft, Sunday Times Style
Dolce & Gabbana
Francis Corner, London College of Fashion
Harold Tillman, British Fashion Council
Marc Jacobs
Miuccia Prada
Natalie Massenet, Net-a-Porter.com
Stuart Rose, Marks & Spencer
Tom Ford
Zac Posen