Little Fashion Week
– Toy range Harumika and high street brand, River Island combine to create a fashion first –
Hot on the heels of London Fashion Week, the British catwalk scene has been revamped in miniature form. In an unlikely collaboration the worlds of toys and fashion have joined forces to create the World's Smallest Catwalk, to showcase the latest trends and designs from a popular high street brand.
Created by arts and crafts design range, Harumika, the catwalk will feature
10 outfits modelled on 21cm high and 4cm wide mannequins, on a one metre long rotating runway. The models compare to the average London Fashion Week model statistics of 5'8" – 5'11" models and come in at an eighth of the average 5'11" model. After the first show, there will be an exclusive launch event at the Soho Hotel, London on Thursday 18th October to showcase the collection.
The catwalk will showcase the upcoming looks from River Island's autumn / winter '12 Chelsea Girl collection, in an innovative way designed to appeal to playful yet fashion conscious girls ahead of the festive party season; who aren't afraid to have fun with their style.
Taking inspiration from heritage brands and emerging young designers such as Burberry, Mulberry, Mary Katrantzou and Peter Pilotto; the miniature mannequin clothing collection was commissioned by Harumika who after a series of interviews of young design talent, employed 22 year old fashion designer, Christina Ruby Walton. Under the guidance of the Chelsea Girl Design team, Christina created the 10 outfits in two weeks, using the same intricate designs, fabrics and colourways of the full sized collection – featuring the same fluffy jumpers, mad faux fur coats, tapestry bombers and crochet lace maxi skirts. The collection has been created in miniature detail with no items being off limits including the silver sequinned satchel and tortoise shell bag allowing the 10 mannequins to strut their stuff on the mini catwalk.
A behind-the-scenes video giving a sneak peek of the collection in the making at River Island headquarters has been filmed for YouTube (www.youtube.com/user/BandaiUK).
Harumika Product Manager, Vicki Elmer, comments:
"Harumika is a great product for encouraging young girls' creativity as it allows them to imagine and craft their own fashion designs with ease. We are forever seeing the talent that the youth of the UK brings to different industries, so we're excited to see the series of bespoke couture designs that young budding fashionistas can create."
Harumika has been a hit with all ages since it launched in the UK in 2009, allowing young creative's to be artistic and design their own fashion collections, whether inspired by some of the world's leading style icons or simply by the visions of their own imagination.
Chelsea Girl Senior Designer, Lucy Moller, comments:
"Chelsea Girl is a quirky, fun and youthful brand, so the opportunity to create a playful fashion first with Harumika was a perfect fit. We're overwhelmed with the skill that Christina has used to miniaturise our designs so accurately, creating a truly innovative way of displaying our new collection."