A group of fashion students from right across Europe found there's no place like South Essex College as they worked on a Wizard of Oz film inspired design project.
Travelling by more traditional means than by clicking ruby slippers the 45 Students from colleges from Paris, Berlin, Finland, Marseille and Italy certainly weren't in Kansas anymore!
The Pan-European students, including Level 3 Extended Diploma Art & Design (Fashion Design) year 2 students from the College, found themselves all working as teams in the fashion centre of the College's Southend Campus to create 12 costumes inspired by the classic Judy Garland film musical.
The Oz inspired costumes in this European-wide fashion project were great and powerful and included designs all based on Dorothy Gale, the role made famous by Garland.
With only three hours to design and create their designs they certainly didn’t have time to dawdle down any yellow brick roads and working together, just like the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion in the classic MGM film, the students were thrust together as a team and had to use their brains to overcome language barriers to create brave costumes that were full of heart.
Showcasing one of the Dorothy creations, Megan Miles, 17, from Great Wakering, said: “It’s been great working with other colleges from across Europe because we’ve been able to learn new techniques and discover ways other people design. As part of our course we’ve visited colleges in Paris so we’ve been looking forward to welcoming the European students to Southend to see our facilities. In the fashion industry it’s really important to have experience working with other countries, especially Paris the fashion capital of the world, so it will look great on our CVs.”
Maxime Gabrache, 18, attends Octave Feuillet in Paris, he commented: “Your (South Essex College) building is very nice, it is big and very well-equipped compared to our school in France. I really enjoyed the Wizard of Oz workshop, I’m a milliner so I made a hat for one of the outfits.”
The Comenius project is a European Union educational project which aims to help young people and educational staff better understand the range of European cultures, languages and values. The College has played an active part in Comenius projects for the past several years and is currently leading this two-year strand of the project on Fashion & Cinema.
The Fashion & Cinema project was heavily influence by the recent Hollywood Costume exhibition at the V&A which included over 100 of the most iconic and unforgettable film characters from a century of Hollywood filmmaking, 1912–2012, including, of course, the Dorothy Gale costume complete with Ruby slippers, from The Wizard of Oz.
Natalie Reynolds, Course Leader Fashion Design Level 3, concluded:“Fashion and Film transcend language and location so this was the perfect jumping off point for this particular project to begin. Being part of the Comenius project has been a great opportunity as the funding allows us to visit other countries.
“The students have been able to make a lot of contacts in European countries which could lead to future employment or internship opportunities. They’ve loved the experience, it’s been great for them to network with people their age and share a common interest with.”