Art Review: #NTUDEGREESHOW

The Nottingham Trent University Degree Show was open for public viewing from 3 - 10 June, and contained some very impressive bodies of work from different creative subjects across the university campus. Being a fashion student myself, I was intrigued to find out what university standards would be like compared to college, and the kind of work fashion students are required to produce in the courses at NTU.

Due to its well-known reputation for success in the fashion industry, I had high hopes for the exhibitions at NTU, and they certainly didn't disappoint. Walking into the Newton Building, I was already overwhelmed by the amount of work that filled the entrance.

The costume design pieces were the first things on display, and they instantly caught your eye; so many unique garments were held up on mannequins that I really didn't know where to look first. One of my favorites was certainly the Wizard of Oz-themed costume. It was amazing to see the detail on every piece; the students had clearly set spent a huge amount of time perfecting and producing their final outcomes.

Downstairs, we saw the work of the fashion design students, although some of the best pieces had been taken down and transported all the way to graduate fashion week in London. One student had molded facial features into her accessories, and even made ear-shaped earrings. The level of creativity was really inspirational.

My favorite part of the degree show was going to look at the Fashion Communication and Promotion coursework. Being interested in the course myself, it was really exciting to see the kind of things that are produced in the final year and get some inspiration for future work. The FCP Degree Show was uniquely set out in the theme of a supermarket. At the entrance you could pick up a goody back with a magazine and a “shopping list” produced by the students, before passing an extremely big receipt with the names of each student who had participated in the exhibition.

On display were the portfolios of each student, professionally presented in identical folders, with covers showing a consumer product that students had chosen to “sum them up”. The exhibition was very lighthearted and fun, which I loved, as the atmosphere had a much warmer vibe than the previous shows.

Mounted on the wall was a huge array of books and magazines produced by students – all very individual and skillfully put together. I came across one piece of work which really stood out to me; a more intimate magazine called “Stuff The Doughnut”. Sophie Pyke is one of the students who was involved in the making of this magazine, and gave me a little insight into what the concept behind it was.

Sophie claims that the live brief with STACK magazine was said to be one of her greatest challenges on the course. "Myself and two other students produced a magazine called ‘Stuff The Doughnut’ based on making sex an open and honest conversation” she said.

It was also well worth taking the time to watch the short videos produced by the students, as part of their live brief with Boots. Sophie also told me a little about her part in producing one of these videos with her group which they called “Sleek Shows You How”.

"This was a group project from second year in which we had to take influences from the film 'Blue Velvet' and create a campaign for the makeup brand Sleek” Sophie explained. “This was also a live brief, but with Boots. Alongside this short film we also had to create an integrated marketing campaign." The depth and the creativity in each video was really individual to each group, many of which used different genres and influences from the chosen film which was portrayed clearly through their outcomes.

Overall the exhibitions which I visited were very impressive and all the students should be super proud of their work.

NTU Degree Show 2017 website