Petticoat Tales Catwalk Show News from the School of Art, Architecture and Design

First Year Fashion Show celebrates the school's location at the heart of London's historic textiles industry

The 2022 edition of the annual first year BA Fashion show at the School of Art, Architecture and Design will take place on the 25th February at 6.00 pm in the Atrium at Goulston Street. This year’s event will celebrate the course's location and the communities and people around the Aldgate campus.  Student designs and garments will take inspiration from the school's proximity to Petticoat Lane, the historic heart of the city's textile industry or 'rag trade' as it was commonly known, and the site of a street market since the 1600s.  The areas name is said to originate in part from a much told east London tale that ‘You can expect someone to steal your petticoat at one end of the market and then sell it back to you at the other end’ 

The BA Fashion students' garments will be photographed by the school’s BA Fashion Photography students, and prize-winning entries are to be displayed as part of London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ Middlesex Street Art Trail at the Devonshire Square complex on Middlesex Street, E1. The project has been sponsored by Devonshire Square and curated by Acrylicize and the AAD Projects Office.

Talking about the event, now in its eighth year, course leader and show organiser Steph Aman said, 'Fabric & textiles have always been part of life around Petticoat Lane Market & we are supporting our local fabric shops in the historic area  and the borough of Tower Hamlets that we are proudly part of. Students have researched the rich narrative and history of Petticoat Lane and also looked at ‘Movement’ as an underlying concept. Their final outcome is to design and create a showpiece garment with the emphasis on being creatively and technically avant garde, considering volume, silhouette, construction, finishings and movement. We are excited to present the first year creations of 2022 '

Petticoat Tales is free to attend but booking via Eventbrite is essential as places are limited