The utterly addictive, ’80s inspired fashion film by first year London College of Fashion student will have you wishing you were a Christian Cowan-Sanluis girl

First year London College of Fashion BA (Hons) Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear student, Christian Cowan-Sanluis doesn’t need to go to university. Not really. Because when today’s most provocative and influential young music artists are already wearing your designs, the rest takes care of itself.

To date Lady Gaga, Eliza Doolittle and Miley Cyrus have all donned Cowan-Sanluis’ playful, avant garde pieces, helping him to gain coverage in indie publishers, VICE, i-D, Hunger and Noctis. Not bad for someone who only unveiled his plastic-fantastic AW14 collection in LCF’s February presentations during London Fashion Week. Cowan-Sanluis’ line, ‘Girls Like Us’ featured pink fluffy and glitter suit coordinates equipped with matching, humorously exaggerated hats, PVC panelled dresses, suggestive snake motifs and frayed denim underwear. Collectively, it was a little bit Barbie, a little bit pimp.

Accompanying the recent release of his AW14 collection, Cowan-Sanluis created a ’80s music video inspired, ironic fashion film with directors Ellis Scott and My Name is Kabir. The clip that’s so fabulous, so can’t-tear-your-eyes-away awful depicts three models as band members who dance about coquettishly in his ’80s popstar reminiscent designs. And that is, of course, while they’re all done up in the decade’s signature tranny make-up and hair styles. Having played it on repeat (actually, on repeat), we can’t help but wonder whether Cowan-Sanluis was in fact, inspired by the costume choices of the very singer who wore his glitter tux: one Miss Lady Gaga.

The AW14 film was shown alongside other films created by East London designers, Christopher Raeburn, Sibling and Meadham Kirchhoff at the Barbican in its June’s Genderf**k showcase which formed part of The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition. Judging by Cowan-Sanluis’ incredibly successful, outrageously innovative designs, we can’t wait to see what he does next.

Words: Steph King