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Glasgow
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Saville Row, Champs Elysee, Buchanan
Street . . . Designer labels are to Glasgow what coals once were to Newcastle. As the first ever Glasgow Fashion Week struts its stuff all over George Square, Kirstin lnnes speaks to three up and coming young designers about Scotland’s healthy fashion scene
‘IT'S REALLY INTERESTING
TO BE DESIGNING IN GLASGOW JUST NOW'
94 THE LIST 1?; 1”.) Mar 700/
Thebrandman
Aaron Harper. who designed the
brand logo and websites for
(ilasgow Fashion Week (UFWl. has been running his own label (‘abalC‘ovin for a year. Harper is a graphic designer by trade and his range of smudgy. stencil print T- shirts and badges have already graced the chests of The Kooks and The Arctic Monkeys. He is excited about (WW and sees it as an important development.
‘Yemi Agile. the (iI’W organiser. is using a lot ol’ local talent on the catwalks. They are going to be displaying their work tip against well—known designers and big
name brands. I think it‘ll be really interesting to see young talent up against the bigger names. because ol'ten. as with design in London compared to design in Scotland. there‘s a lot more l'reedom to be creative when you‘re on a slightly smaller scale. Sometimes I think that independent designers are producing all the interesting stull‘.‘
Harper points out that his Scottish roots run deep.
‘I wanted to start a brand that was distinctly Scottish. without using tartan iii a cliched way. so I‘ve based my moms on a more urban lifestyle -- ghetto blasters. tattoos. anti—war slogans and
GFW was inspired by similar events in Toronto and San Paulo; bottom of page designs by,an Harper; top right designs by Jennifer Lang
skateboard designs over tartan. I suppose there is something quite distinctively (ilaswegian about what I do. People in Glasgow are more conscious ol~ labels than in Iidinburgli. where things tend to be more relaxed. and I think a lot ol‘ that will come out in the catwalk shows.~
The idea behind (WW came about alter organisers noticed that Toronto and San Paulo were running their own city-wide l’ashion weeks to compete with the larger events in Paris. London. New York and Milan. Further momentum was provided by last year's Iidinburgh Fashion Iiair. which received criticism for not l’ocussing enough on local talent.
‘I think Scotland as a whole has a very creative output at the moment.‘ says Harper. 'and I think sometimes Scottish talent can be overlooked because ol~ London being such a big force. I think it‘s important that everybody doesn‘t emigrate to London: there's so much talent outside of that one city. especially in Scotland. 'There are a lot ol' good small design companies coming tip in (ilasgow at the moment — there‘s a lot of cross-rel‘erencing. We started tip a MySpace page for (WW and we were overwhelmed by the response we got from local people
wishing to participate.‘ www.cabalcovin.com