Sarah Atkinson, Director of Programmes at London College of Fashion, and Natalie Brown, Programme Curator, taught a master class on clothing design, using slides and focusing on techniques that have been successfully used by famous fashion designers such as Marc Jacobs and Damir Doma. The professionals provided paper with four sketches which would be used by the learners to create a simple design. The session participants then used the skills to create a few sketches of clothing models.

Some of the bold “students” had the opportunity to practice on a dummy clad in a light-coloured fabric under the supervision of Sarah and Natalie. Using thin purple ribbons, they demonstrated how the use of various straight and wavy lines can accentuate a silhouette, hide minor defects and serve as an original detail for a clothing item. The two specialists also talked about more various models using a range of colours and sizes, changing minor details in a silhouette and playing with accessories.

Towards the end of the class, the fashion professionals and students switched places in order for the budding designers to demonstrate their own skills and techniques to Sarah and Natalie using a video presentation of their works.

Many of the attendees noted that the master class differed from regular university lectures in that it perfectly combined theory and practice. In their turn, Sarah Atkinson and Natalie Brown said they were impressed by the enthusiasm and potential of the young Uzbek designers and their willingness to learn new skills and apply them in practice.