EXCLUSIVE| Ones to Watch: Hana Cha

Hana Cha is another of our newly announced Ones To Watch. The Korean designer, who has a degree in Fine Art, is also a recent graduate of the London College of Fashion with an MA in Womenswear Fashion Design and Technology. Her graduate collection, named the 'Diffusion Between Proletariats and Bourgeois' is inspired by just that and won her the Womenswear Collection of the Year award. With a desire to explore the different attire of varying social classes, reinterpret class gaps and create something that combines these differing social styles, a stunning collection was born. In regards to her collection, Cha stated that “Dress reveals one’s ideas - it shouts out or speaks gently about an individual’s personality and identity to the outside world.” A strong aesthetic for a strong collection, we're very excited to see what ideas Hana Cha will be shouting out or speaking gently in the future.

Text by Josh Walker
Images from Hana Cha's MA collection

EXCLUSIVE| Ones to watch: Ming-Pin Tien

Originally from Taipei Taiwan, designer Ming-Pin Tien has worked up 9 years’ worth of experience that includes being a visual merchandiser for one of Taiwan’s most popular boutiques as well as assisting emerging Taiwanese womenswear designer Jolin Wu. This year Ming-Pin Tien brings his talent to Vauxhall Fashion Scout as one of SS13’s Ones To Watch.

A recent graduate from London College of Fashion’s most famed Fashion Design & Technology MA course, Ming-Pin Tien’s MA 2012 graduate show collection titled “Metaphorical Distance” displayed an eye for innovative design with a muted colour palette and unusually beautiful shapes.

His focus on pattern cutting is unmistakeably interesting with shapes that show creativity and craftsmanship. A talent for translating his ideas, Ming-Pin’s work is based on the abstract and conceptual, which are skilfully brought to life with shapes and intricate details that make his work stand out in the crowd.

Vauxhall Fashion Scout spoke to Ming-Pin Tien to see how it felt following the announcement.

"It has been an overwhelming experience so far as it has happened in a very short period of time - I'm still digesting it! I am very happy and proud to be chosen as VFS Ones to Watch this season. I see this showcasing opportunity as my first step towards to my career in the big city, as well as to let people know what Ming is about and to see if they appreciate my design and aesthetic. 

I am fully working on my new collection for SS13. [In regards to my collection] I would like to say, "Look into the details and never forget to have a good look of the back of each outfit." Like most things happening in the world it's perfectly normal on the front with a quick glance but who have noticed what has been happening behind and under the surface...?"

He will show his new collection alongside other Ones To Watch designers at Vauxhall Fashion Scout in September 2012.


Copy by Vanessa Omoregie, Ming-Pin Tien interviewed by Cass Gowing

EXCLUSIVE| Ones to Watch: Charlotte Simpson

Charlotte Simpson is a young designer who is no stranger to success, being featured in publications such as Vogue, Elle and i-D Magazine as well as going on to win the Zandra Rhodes Textiles Award at Graduate Fashion Week. She is an unstoppable force, being announced as one of Vauxhall Fashion Scout’s Ones To Watch designers for SS13.

Studying fashion at Northumbria University Charlotte has worked with some of fashion’s brightest stars such as DKNY, Amanda Wakeley, Julien Macdonald and Olivia Rubin gaining experience in the fashion industry. Working as a freelance print designer, it was her study on the prestigious Fashion Design Technology master’s course at London College of Fashion that had her shortlisted for the Womenswear of the Year Award at the famed LCF Victoria & Albert show.

Titled “Biological Dimensions” Charlotte Simpson showed raw talent with her MA 2012 collection showcased at Vauxhall Fashion Scout in London as well as Paris earlier this year. The collection which is inspired by organic patterns and features interesting embroidery techniques brings science together with fashion with a focus on optimising the surface area of the garment. A subtle interpretation of the biology of plants as well as a unique exploration of pattern cutting methods, the collection is a testament to Charlotte Simpson’s true potential.

When the Editor Cass Gowing caught up with Charlotte to congratulate her on her success, she was very excited to have been selected!

It is a great place to be able to showcase my second collection. I really enjoyed exhibiting with Vauxhall Fashion Scout in London and Paris last season and it's amazing this time around to have such an exciting show as well. I am really looking forward to show day already! To me, most importantly it means that I have some invaluable support and guidence behind me and my label at such an early and crucial stage of my career. Couldn't be better really. 

We tried to prise information about the highly anticipated SS13 collection from Charlotte, but she wasn't giving much away!

There will be a little more colour in this collection and there is still plenty of embroidery giving that little bit of shimmer to the palette.

Charlotte will show her new collection at Vauxhall Fashion Scout’s 13^th season alongside other Ones To Watch Designers in September 2012.


Text by Vanessa Omoregie
Images from Charlotte Simpson's MA collection

EXCLUSIVE| Ones to Watch: Hellen van Rees

One of VFS's newly announced Ones To Watch is the young Dutch designer Hellen van Rees, who's aesthetic is both striking and unique. With a BA in Fashion Design from the ArtEZ institute of the Arts in Arnhem, an MA in Fashion Womenswear from Central Saint Martins and internships under Giles Deacon and Iris Van Herpen, she is as educated in her field as she is experienced. The designer's A/W 12 collection, 'Square One: The Miracle of the Space Age' is a combination of the classic and the contemporary. Taking inspiration from the 1920's silhouette, tweed fabrics used by Chanel and 3D structures of various artists, the collection's pieces are sculptural and modern. Hellen Van Rees is truly experimental in her creations and using old fabrics or production factory remnants means her pieces are completely sustainable. With such a creative approach to silhouette and use of fabric, it's no wonder she's our One To Watch.

Editor Cass Gowing caught up with the newly named Ones to Watch designer:

How you feel to be chosen at VFS Ones to Watch?

I´m very excited to be part of VFS Ones to Watch! After graduating at CSM I knew I wanted to start my own label so it´s really great to have such a great venue to showcase my first independent collection and also to show along other designers who are in this stage.

What does this opportunity mean to you?

It´s good to to get this kind of confirmation that I´m doing the right thing to start my own label! Also after graduating there´s so much still to learn, about having a business, etc. So it´s also good to know that Vauxhall gives all kinds of support and advice in case I have any questions.

Can you give us any exclusive hints to your SS13 collection?

That is the most exciting thing of it all, to be able to continue to develop new work. Spring summer will again feature handmade sustainable textiles. Cubes, lots of cubes. It will all be much lighter than the previous collection, but not less of a statement. A bit more variation... some tweed, some rubber, some glitter...

Text by Josh Walker, interview by Cass Gowing
Image1 from Hellen's AW12 collection, Images 2 and 3 - exclusive images of sample fabric and textiles. 

DESIGNER| Spring/Summer 13 Merit Award winner, Heohwan Simulation

If Heohwan Simulation is a name that sounds familiar, that's not surprising; picked as Vogue's Fashion Week favourites back in February, and later selected by Vogue Italia's Sara Maino as an exhibition-pick in Paris, Heohwan Simulation have emerged as forerunners in the pick of fashion's best.


Graduating from London's Royal College of Art in 2007, and a Vauxhall Fashion Scout 'One-to-Watch' for the coming season, Korean-born Hwan Heo has established a menswear-rooted, but fundamentally feminine aesthetic, working luxurious silks with contrasting, and exposed zip-leather detail.


The Spring/Summer '13 Merit Award winner will be awarded a £25,000 prize-fund to provide a financial springboard to ensure a platform equal in strength to their designs, starting with a stand-alone VFS showing in Freemasons Hall in September.


For more information about Heohwan Simulation, and images from their previous collections, be sure to visit the Heohwan Simulation website, here.

ANNOUNCEMENT| VFS Merit Award Winner and Ones to Watch SS13

Heohwan Simulation

Left: Charlotte Simpson, Right: Ming Pin Tien

Left: Hellen van Rees, Right: Hana Cha

Vauxhall Fashion Scout, the internationally recognised home of new talent,  is delighted to announce Heohwan Simulation as the Merit Award winner for SS13. Charlotte Simpson, Hana Cha, Hellen van Rees and Ming Pin Tien have been selected as Ones To Watch for SS13. 

RCA graduate Heohwan Simulation debuted his collection in February 2012 as part of our Ones to Watch initiative. The highly acclaimed Merit Award,  worth £25,000, provides winner, Heohwan Simulation with a vital showcasing platform during London and Paris Fashion Weeks. Renowned for his aesthetic approach that connects feminine beauty with strong masculine silhouettes, Heohwan is already receiving international recognition for his designs and is set to wow again as Merit Award winner for SS13. 

Meanwhile, Charlotte Simpson, Hana Cha, Hellen van Rees and Ming Pin Tien are the winners of Ones To Watch SS13. The Ones to Watch debutes emerging designers and gives them the opportunity to showcase their designs.

London College of Fashion's Womenswear Collection of the Year 2012 winner Hana Cha explores the diffusion representative between the classes of the Proletariats and the Bourgeois through a division in her style, use of colour and material. Whilst Hellen van Rees, February 2012 Central Saint Martins graduate, has already received much celebration for her sustainably resourced and produced tweeds that were displayed in her geometric AW12 MA collection. LCF graduate Charlotte Simpson showcased her MA collection, a collection of  tactile and intriguing embroideries - inspired by scinetific imagery, at Vauxhall Fashion Scout in both London and Paris this year. Last but my no means least, graduating from London College of Fashion this year, Taiwanese designers Ming Pin Tien’s designs contain reflective and  point of view of fashion with strong abstract concept; balancing creative pattern cutting with colour and texture.

The designers were chosen by the Vauxhall Fashion Scout Selection Panel and included past Merit Award winners David Koma and Eudon Choi.

This September 2012 will see Vauxhall Fashion Scout's 13th season as an internationally recognised launch pad for new talent as always presenting the highly-anticipated Merit Award and Ones To Watch shows alongside catwalk shows, presentations, installations and exhibition space. Vauxhall Fashion Scout will take place at Freemasons’ Hall, Covent Garden from 14^th – 18^th September 2012. 

NEWS| Exclusive Prose Spring/Summer '13 preview

Since unveiling Autumn/ Winter '12 with us at Freemasons earlier this year, German-label Prose have been hard at it in the studio, with designer, Miriam Lehle working on their forthcoming Spring/Summer collection.

Knowing the industry's current pace, and fashion-fan's resultant haste- with their desire to see, and want more- Prose- as always- have delivered with a Spring/Summer '13 preview unveiled exclusively on their website, here.

Not wanting to spoil the surprise, Lehle's not played all her cards just yet, but what we can tell so far is that horses play a particularly big role in next season's "theme".

More images, and video on the Prose website, here.

NEWS| Pam Hogg to showcase retrospective collection at Edinburgh International Fashion Festival 2012

Pam Hogg AW12 finale, by Natalia Ilina 

                                                                          Pam Hogg AW12 finale, by Natalia Ilina 

Vauxhall Fashion Scout designer and legendary fashion icon Pam Hogg will be showcasing a retrospective collection at the Edinburgh International Fashion Festival 2012 on Saturday 18th August. 

The show will be a medley collection of her key pieces from AW09 (Pam's highly anticipated return to the fashion sphere) to AW12 (her most recent collection which was showcased at Vauxhall Fashion Scout's Freemason's Hall in February). 

This retrospective showcase will be Pam Hogg's personal selection of her highlights from the  following collections: ‘Time Machine’ (AW09), ‘Goddess at War’ (SS10), ‘Valley of the Shadow of Darkness’ (AW10), ‘To Kingdom Come’ (SS10), ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’ (AW11), ‘Notre Dames’ (SS12) and ‘Wild Life’ (AW12). The runway show, which is taking place on Saturday 18 August 2012 at  8:00pm will be followed by an official after party with live music and a DJ set from Jim Lambie.

Tickets for the Edinburgh International Fashion Festival are available here. 

By Cass Gowing, Editor. Follow her on Twitter @CassGowing

First image taken from Edinburgh International Fashion Festival's website, other images by Natalia Ilina at VFS's AW12 showcase