Flamboyant and extravagant pieces displayed the immense amount of work students at Nonsuch High School for Girls put into their textiles coursework over the course of their GCSEs and A-Levels. In March 2017, the school held their annual textiles fashion show at lunchtime for students of the school to view the beautifully designed and made items of clothing of their peers.

The show consisted of the work of the year eleven GCSE and A-Level students as well as some examples of bags created by Key Stage 3 pupils. As part of their coursework pieces, the GCSE students had to make a decision as to whether they based their designs on either culture or character. Haashini and Vibusha, two year eleven students, opted for the character based design and both interpreted the costumes uniquely whilst Apira chose the culture option and created an intricate and elegant Indian piece.  

Haashini chose Pocahontas’ outfit as the inspiration for her final piece and used the original beige and blue but changed the design so it included a blue underskirt that was partially exposed underneath the entire ensemble. To complete the piece and complete the requirement of including an up-cycled element, she made beige and blue tassels from the scrap pieces of fabric and arranged them in a diagonal formation as shown in the image.

Vibusha used Little Red Riding Hood’s vibrant costume as a prompt for her scarlet dress, complete with a hood to resemble that of the character’s outfit. She also included a variety of embellishments to accentuate the finished costume. Despite choosing the option of the culturally based outfit, Apira used a similar colour to Vibusha to create her ornate dress which was inspired by traditional Indian outfits.

The annual fashion show has always been a popular event with students coming to support their friends and recognise the work and talent of all of the textiles students in the school. As well as this, the event enables the students to present their showpieces and demonstrate the skill and hours of work that have gone into finalising the designs and making the stylish and aesthetic products for their GCSEs and A-Levels.