First year fashion students at Cardiff and Vale College were set the task by Oxfam Boutique to creating a garment and window display to celebrate St David’s Day. Each student designed, made/customise a garment from up cycled clothing.
Their work represents a ‘modern day fashion retrospective of the Welsh National Costume’. They looked at Welsh folk tales and different locations in Cardiff to inspire each window display and implemented their vision in the store.
Susy Fernandes is one of the students who has been busy creating pieces for the shop window: “I haven’t lived in Wales for a long time, so when this project was presented to me I did a vast amount of research. I was amazed at the quality of the woollen fabrics, the tartan design and most of all, the shawl. I love tradition, as I believe it is important to look at our origins and understand how we got here, who our great ancestors were and how they lived.” says Susy.
“Staying true to the project I bought a red plain dress and red tweed jacket from a charity shop combining both when making this outfit. I love the concept of the Welsh shawl and to give it a modern twist I used stiff netting to resemble the fisherman’s net and Prada’s own take on the shawl. For my second garment I wanted to visualise the Welsh dragon fabric I had and make a fitted bodice. The skirt was made using a men’s XL Rugby shirt, which symbolises the Welsh passion for sport.”
It was St David – Dewi Sant himself who told his followers to ‘do the little things’, so why not do a little thing that could make a big difference and pop into the Oxfam Boutique or your local Oxfam shop today. Don’t forget you can also find some amazing pieces at Oxfam’s online shop.
For all the latest news from the Oxfam Boutique you can follow them on Twitter @oxfam_boutique. Or, if you have a little spare time on your hands and would like to volunteers at the Boutique or another Oxfam shop get in touch today.