WITH the midnight candlelit forest picnic brimming with fresh, tempting apples – and even more tempting guests – the scene is a clever mix between Edouard Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass oil painting, classical renaissance and the Garden of Eden.
The outdoor rolltop bath image is equally striking and detailed, while the mud-covered girl emerging from the ditch and fending off men is provocative and edgy. Looking like they’ve fallen from the pages of a high-end glossy, you’d be forgiven for assuming the dazzling photographs were the result of a team of industry professionals.
So what makes the pictures even more striking is that they were in fact created solely by Edinburgh students, posed by Edinburgh students and shot in various locations around the Capital to promote the Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show and auction 2008, which takes place on March 1 and 2.
The annual fashion show may well be run entirely by students across the city, but they’ve managed to attract an impressive array of celebrities to help their causes. Now in its fifth year, it has raised more than £150,000.
Over the years, rock legend Sting and world-renowned painter Jack Vettriano have pitched in to help raise money, while JK Rowling donated a limited edition box set of signed Harry Potter books. The Kaiser Chiefs have signed brass cymbals, Snow Patrol have given a guitar, Ewan McGregor pledged his biker jacket and Harry Enfield donated himself as a guest for a dinner party. Not bad going for a group of students with an average age of just 21.
“A lot of it is luck,” laughs 21-year-old history of art student and show chairman, Rollo Gwyn-Jones. “Our aim is always to raise a substantial amount of money for our chosen charities which are this year MacMillan Cancer and Project Scotland, so we thought we’d aim high and try our luck with the celebrities.
“There is a lot of cold calling, a lot of calling in contacts and a lot of chasing. We’ve had great results in the past and this year in our auction we’ve got a signed guitar from the Kooks, a signed guitar from James Blunt and Jeremy Irons has donated his cottage in Ireland for a holiday, among others.”
But the charity auction is just part of the two-day glitzy event, with the charity show – which helps to promote some of Scotland’s freshest talent – taking centre stage. Taking place at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, the show will feature the work of both up-and-coming student designers and donated collections fresh from the London Fashion Week catwalks from an array of celebrated labels, which have in the past included Stella McCartney, Armani, Nicole Fahri, Sinhastanic and Pringle.
Although the ECFS is the largest student-run fashion event in Europe, and last year alone it raised nearly £40,000 for charities, Rollo stresses it’s also all about the fashion.
“It was founded by Joanna Brenminkmeyer as there wasn’t a fashion show for students. She wanted to enjoy fashion but also raise money for charity and raise awareness of charities. Every year there is a different chairman who brings something new to the show and pushes it to the next level, and last year we achieved charitable status.”
The theme of the show this year is clear: the Garden of Eden, well, “One night in Eden” to be precise. Running over two nights – a VIP dinner on Saturday and public party on Sunday – each will feature about 30 student models, showcasing some 300 or outfits. And this year they’ve gone one step further by doing their very own photo shoot which has appeared in their first calendar.
“Again it was just to raise awareness,” explains Rollo. “We wanted to get fantastic shots so the student creative team were let loose, and this is the result. It took six days of shooting at various locations around Edinburgh in September.
“We shot on Gullane beach at 4.30am, on the Pentland Hills at 11.30pm with models in their underwear. We shot up Arthur’s Seat and in the Royal Botanic Garden. It just goes to show what students can do.”
Tickets for the show on March 1 and 2 are from £15.75. To book, call 0131-228 1155 or log on to
www.ecfs2008.org. The calendar costs £8.
