Fashion in Motion presents Craig Lawrence

The latest subject to be in the spotlight for the V&A Museum's Fashion in Motion series of catwalk shows, was the avant garde workmanship of  Womenswear designer Craig Lawrence. Ipswich born, Central Saint Martins graduate made famous for creating the knitted pieces for outlandish designer Gareth Pugh over six seasons, rapidly achieved high regard for his innovative designs, and is backed by the British Fashion Council's NEWGEN initiative. You only need to look at his designs to see why the likes of Lady Gaga, Bjork and more recently Jessie J, Daisy Lowe and Rita Ora are fans.

Highlighting the key pieces from each of his seasons shows, Lawrence expertly demonstrates the sheer skill and imagination that lies behind these voluminous, playful and elegant masterpieces. The unconventional materials of sweet wrappers, gold foil, bin bags and Kyototex (a Japanese metallic yarn) are intricately woven and crafted to achieve forms that both mould and sculpt to the body. There is definitely a performance element to his work and with such strong designs a feeling of futuristic warrior with a powerful sexuality is achieved.

Graduate Fashion Show: "This piece was hand knitted from tartan ribbon encased in plastic to reinforce the structural element to the 'loop the loops', to resonate with the excitement and playfulness of fairground rides."

S/S10: "With this dress I wanted to create something new by using a well recognised material – barrier tape – in a different context. This was me being funny."

A/W10: "Hand knitted from gold foil sweetie wrappers, the lightweight nature of this fabric helped create instant movement in the piece and transformed the wearer with its strong statuesque frame."

S/S11... "This dress is from the mermaid collection, I knitted using the wrapping technique to create the silver embellished stripes. The two tone metallic yarn added a tarnished, rust-like aesthetic to the dress furthering the ethereal, romantic feel of the collection."

A/W09: "Here I like the juxtaposition of the soft marshmallow, playful knit against the bolshy protective silhouette."

S/S11: "As part of the mermaid collection, this siren dress embodies feelings of otherworldly, bedraggled romanticism conjuring up notions of driftwood washed up upon the shore."

A/W11: "The inky tones and transparency of the ladder stitches, in combination with the circular partial knitted technique created a seductive disguise for the layered pieces in this collection."

Season after season Lawrence has impressed the industry, surpassing expectations and pushing the boundaries of knitwear in fashion today, making him one of Britain’s truly unique design talents and securing him as a talent worth taking note of. 

Additional photos: Martin Evans