The Tate gallery are teaming up with emerging filmmaker Scott Carthy to create a unique film in response to the Nick Waplington/Alexander McQueen: Working Progress exhibition currently on display at the Tate Britain.

The film, which will be screened alongside the exhibition at the Young People’s Private View later this month, seeks to expand on Waplington’s theme of a ‘working progress’ and follows four up and coming fashion designers (Sadie Clayton, Phoebe Kowalska, Harry Mundy and Olubiyi Thomas) in their studios.

Carthy uses his impeccable eye for detail to showcase the materials, techniques and raw creativity of these four individuals on the brink of their careers.

The progress of the young designers is contextualised by McQueen’s final exhibition, as it is captured in Waplington’s photographs, and the tension between mass production, destruction and renewal. In 2009 McQueen said “we are living in a mess” and “we got to this point because of rampant, indiscriminate consumption”.

As the film unfolds it’s clear that the designers place craft and quality at the centre of their work, preferring handmade or developed techniques above the manufactured. Thus, the two narratives conclude with the hopeful suggestion that McQueen’s ideal creative process is being realised by these future stars of the design world, signalling a new ethical dawn for the fashion industry.

 The film will be screened at an After Hours event on May 15^th

Words: Juliana Piskorz