As one of the most anticipated events of the school calendar, it’s difficult to imagine that each year the Fashion Show can exceed the expectations of the audience, but as ever, the students delivered a totally incredible show.

Entitled ‘Dazed’, this year’s event celebrated the abundance of creative talent at Blackheath High School through fashion, music and film. With innovative collections by our sixth form Textiles students being showcased alongside designs from our lower school students and modelled by pupils from all year groups, it was a true celebration of our innovative community.

Natasha from Year 13 opened the show to the strains of Kate Bush with a Victoriana inspired catwalk. Pastel prints and soft, windswept silhouettes were the key themes running through her collection. A dramatic display from our GCSE students followed, who all modelled their own designs this year, and saw graphic repeat prints adorning their striking garments. Inspiration for Year 11 collections varied from botanical motifs through to prints extracted from coastal imagery gathered on a field trip to Hastings. Alina in Year 12 also sought inspiration from the shoreline, with sparkling oceanic prints embellishing some of her garments alongside a 70s inspired patchwork jumpsuit.

There was a political edge to a number of the catwalks this year, with Avis in Year 12 exploring how graffiti reflects culturally significant events of our time, their garments conveying a sense of anarchy in an alt street style collection. Designs by Cait (Year 13) utilised visceral prints and embellishments, neutral fabrics and loosely knitted, elongated forms to create a collection that asked us to consider the archaic form of punishment of the death penalty that still exists in parts of the USA.

A collaborative collection between Year 13's Jo and Lara saw inspired choreography and striking sculptural garments, with a soundtrack from Bat for Lashes and the Neighbourhood. Mineralesque fabric forms and ruffles in deep jewel-like colours adorned Lara’s designs, whilst Jo’s minimal approach featured stylish garment shapes accentuated with laser cut skeletal forms, delicate prints and ornamental ties. With an imbued romanticism, Ivy (Year 13) collection followed, starring models with dewy make-up showcasing transparent multi-layered garments inspired by underwater creatures, floating down the catwalk, with subtle beading and foil printed elements.

Our youngest designers in Year 9 Fashion Society created a collection inspired by Greek Mythology using flowing fabrics and metallic prints to reflect the students’ chosen deity or myth. With a similar emphasis on graceful forms, the models used by Year 13 student, Maddie, cut a dramatic entrance with her elegantly designed garments that reflected the classic shapes of futuristic film, with prints and laser cut surfaces that drew inspiration from otherworldly landscapes.

Continuing the theme of the supernatural, Elena's interactive catwalk saw models rising from the audience wearing designs inspired by apocalyptic video game The Last of Us. Fungus-like prints and embroidered embellishments grew out of the garments and across the body, and worn-down fabric surfaces hinted at a dystopian future. Referencing microscopic forms and hidden beauty, Shanti's models conveyed a subtle elegance through a soft colour palette and intricate forms that adorned their garments through digital embroidery and delicate prints.

Our penultimate collection ‘Flesh and Armour’, saw Esme's models wearing her incredible sculptural designs that took inspiration from the natural armour of crustaceans and beetles. Through a subtle colour palette of dusky pinks and browns with flashes of metallic, she expressed simultaneously what protects and what needs protecting.

With a celebratory end to the show, Emily’s collection, ‘Saisei’, translating into Rebirth in Japanese, featured her lower school models bouncing down the catwalk wearing garments that juxtaposed traditional Japanese techniques, such as batik and embroidery with modern cityscape designs in neon prints.

Massive congratulations to everybody who took part in this year’s show and thank you to all the students and staff who have worked so incredibly hard to make the event such a huge success!

Written by Mrs Imogen Gilbert, Teacher of Art and Textiles