LONDON, United Kingdom — Menswear designer Craig Green may have only finished his MA in fashion design at Central Saint Martins last month, but the 25-year old is already turning heads. Of course, it helps that his digitally printed tie-dye collection of cotton trousers, tunics and sculptural wooden and papier-mâché accoutrements tied with Luke Brooks to win the prestigious L’Oréal Professional Creative Award. And judging by Green’s unique, austere vision and the painstaking craftsmanship found in his clothes, Green deserves the accolade.

Growing up in North London, Green had little exposure to fashion. He comes, as he puts it, from a “very non-creative, non-fashion” kin. “My mom was a nurse. My dad’s a plumber. My uncle’s a carpenter. We’re just a very normal North London family.” However, Green notes that, throughout his youth he was surrounded by craftsmen and builders and thus developed an early appreciation for making things by hand. This love of craft is apparent in his MA collection.

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Tim Coppens Autumn/Winter 2012 | Source: Tim Coppens

NEW YORK, United States — This month, the BoF Spotlight shines on Tim Coppens, a promising Belgian-born designer who is rapidly ascending the menswear ranks in New York.

Young menswear designers face the tricky challenge of pushing aesthetic boundaries while staying within the relatively limited sartorial confines of what the vast majority of men are willing to wear. Few succeed. But Coppens — who is a 2012 Ecco Domani award winner and draws on technical prowess honed at Ralph Lauren’s RLX, an activewear line where he served as design director from 2008 to 2011 — has struck a winning balance after just two seasons.

With an aesthetic that blends tailoring with the technical detailing of activewear, Coppens has carved out an enviable spot for himself in the narrow American menswear space, earning the attention of influential stockists like Barneys New York, Dover Street Market and LN-CC.

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Cedric Charlier Autumn/Winter 2012 | Source: Courtesy Photo

As fashion month comes to a close in Paris, BoF examines the prospects for the city’s young fashion designers.

PARIS, France — In today’s global fashion ecosystem, New York and London are veritable hotbeds of emerging designers. Alexander Wang, Proenza Schouler and Joseph Altuzarra in New York and Mary Katrantzou, Jonathan Saunders and Christopher Kane in London are just a few of the rising names who have been able to translate their talents into budding international businesses.

But Paris, often dubbed “the fashion capital of the world,” has several independent, emerging fashion businesses that are scarcely known outside of their home country. Generations of young French men and women became globally recognised names in fashion. Where are the big French names now?

There is certainly not a lack of talent or drive. Alexandre Vauthier, 40, who worked with Thierry Mugler for almost two decades before launching his own label, and Maxime Simoens, 27, who worked with Jean Paul Gaultier, Elie Saab, Nicolas Ghesquière and John Galliano before launching his own brand in 2009, are two of the young guns of French fashion.

Then there is Alexis Mabille, 33, who previously created jewellery at Dior, and Alexandre Mattiussi, 30, who learned his craft at Dior Homme, Givenchy and Marc Jacobs before launching his own menswear line, Ami, for Fall 2011. Bouchra Jarrar has made a splash with her sharp tailoring and minimalist designs.

And this season, Cédric Charlier, who worked alongside Alber Elbaz at Lanvin, struck out with his first collection under his own name, backed by the Aeffe Group, an Italian manufacturer and distributor that also works with Jean-Paul Gaultier, Moschino, and Cacharel. When Charlier was sacked unexpectedly by Cacharel one year ago after three seasons as its creative director, Aeffe’s Massimo Ferretti approached him about entering into a licensing partnership.

Paris provides many young designers with unique access to talented local artisans, craftsmen and factories, something that young companies in New York and London often struggle to find in their local markets. But still, few of these businesses have achieved the scale or profile of their counterparts in London or New York.

So what are the issues?

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Central Saint Martins King Cross Campus | Photo: John Sturrock

LONDON, United Kingdom — Central Saint Martins’ MA fashion course is praised the world over for consistently producing the industry’s most exciting new designers. From the late great Alexander McQueen to industry darling Phoebe Philo to wunderkind Christopher Kane, the school has produced many of fashion’s most influential creative forces. Headed by Professor Louise Wilson OBE, whose tough love approach to teaching is almost as well known as Saint Martins itself, the notoriously gruelling course pushes its students to their limits, preparing them for industry excellence.

“Nightmare,” is the word Wilson chooses to describe the class of 2012. And perhaps this is the response one would expect from a woman trying to whip the British fashion industry’s latest flock of emerging talent into shape. After all, their graduate collections will be revealed to the public during tonight’s highly anticipated CSM MA fashion show, which, it should be noted, is the only university show presented on the runway at London Fashion Week. But for some, nightmare could also describe the fashion program’s recent move from its cosily dilapidated former home on Charing Cross Road to Saint Martins’ new £200 million King’s Cross Campus.

Indeed, the new building has been both a blessing and a curse for the second year design students, who were uprooted from their familiar Soho studio-cum-classroom this fall, midway through their two-year course of study. And they’ve offered mixed reviews of their new King’s Cross campus, from full on raves about state-of-the-art knitting machines and the industrial architecture, to concerns about lack of access to a print studio and reluctant admissions of missing the historic Charing Cross location. But despite mixed feelings on the new campus, the latest class of designers has proceeded in true Saint Martins style, rallying through the good, the bad and the impossible to create a number of forward-thinking collections worthy of any professional catwalk.

Who will CSM’s next big star? Here, in anticipation of tonight’s MA Fashion show, BoF takes an exclusive look inside the renowned fashion institution to reveal five of this year’s most promising new design talents.

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