Zowie Broach, In Other Words – WWD

Zowie Broach, head of MA Fashion at London‘s Royal College of Arts, has been nurturing a new generation of female designers since she was handed the baton from Wendy Dagworthy in 2014.

Broach achieved international recognition for her label Boudicca with Brian Kirkby in the early 2000s, alongside the likes of Phoebe Philo and Stella McCartney. Her brand was the first independent British fashion house to be invited as a guest member of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, then Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, in 2007.

Fifteen years on, there are many more female fashion designers in the space — and many of them have been taught by her, including Feng Chen Wang, Karoline Gomes, Sinéad O Dwyer, Supriya Lele and Bianca Saunders, who became the first Black female designer to win ANDAM Fashion Prize last year.

“They are this amazing generation of young women who have distinct voices. They care about the excellence of our bodies, our gaze, our values, offering ways to dress and express the body,” Broach said, adding that the fact that more females professionals such as talent expert Mariasole Pastori and intellectual property educator Eleanor Rockett are working at top places in the industry help female designers to advance their careers.

Saunders, who graduated from RCA in 2017, said Broach taught her “to think differently about my work, especially how there isn’t one correct approach to design,” and “how a label can be a multifaceted creative world, not just a fashion brand.”

“She’s also a practical person — she was very considerate about the details and helped refine my approach when it came to things like presentations, from the models I used through to even using the right paper. Anyone who is lucky enough to have Zowie as a mentor stands a better chance of not only being inspired creatively but also becoming a more rounded and savvy designer,” she added.

Wang, who recently cut outfits for flagbearers during the Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony, recalled how Broach encouraged her to dream bigger.

“She once asked me if I could name a Chinese fashion designer that was recognizable on a global scale, similar in stature to that of Yohji Yamamoto or Rei Kawakubo. Acknowledging we could not was transformational in the sense that we realized there was this huge opportunity for Chinese designers. Zowie was instrumental in inspiring me to have this ambition and drive to not only be the best designer I could, but bring a unique design language that would inspire others,” she said.

While Tianan Ding, a 2020 RCA graduate who scooped the Vogue Talents Special Mention during last year’s International Talent Support contest, most appreciated the fact that Broach “dares her to take risks.”

“The way she teaches fashion is like she is doing an experimental, educational and crazy project and wants to involve us all. She loves to see students being critical and challenging the system. I have definitely taken some boldness from her when I was doing my brand,” she added.

Mei Sze Tsang, whose graduate collection was an advanced workwear collection specifically designed for British bricklayers, simply described Broach as “different” and “emotional.”

“I still remember in a presentation to the industrial people, she mentioned: ‘these students might not able to get a job in perhaps 10 years because they are creating new jobs by themselves.’ She has never asked us to create a fashion collection of eight looks or six looks, she only wants us to make one thing perfect, which leads to what I’m doing today. I have been spending almost two years developing the best workwear trousers,” she said.

“I can never understand her emails. They are like poetry and love letters. It is because her heart comes firsts than her brain. She really gives her heart out to teach us,” Tsang added of Broach’s emails.

In June, a fresh batch of students from the prestigious art school will present their graduate collections and be properly introduced to the fashion industry. Before that, the MA students gave a sneak peek of what to expect during a work-in-progress exhibition on Tuesday.

Broach has long encouraged her students to think of “fashion outside of fashion,” and to look beyond the runway and the showroom when they design. As a result, the students present their work in a wide array of disciplines. One hour of the exhibition was dedicated to fashion films.

Several female students proposed interesting ideas that explore the relationship between the body and the garment, as well as the boundaries between reality and the metaverse.

Xiaojiao Liu, whose work tries to bring elements of Chinese calligraphy into the sheer tactile dresses and to make digital accessories via augmented-reality filters, observed that male designers see the female body totally different from female designers.

“They tend to focus on the face and the body. For me, a body is just a body. I don’t really sexualize it,” she added.

Similarly, Rebecca Armstrong from Belfast wants to create pieces that her body feels comfortable in, instead of making something that seeks validation from others. Her fitted tailorings, even unfinished during the exhibition, looked timeless and luxurious.

Quoting her idol Jil Sander from an early interview, Armstrong said: “She thinks of her collections as a balancing element in the mix and match culture of the 90s. In that time period, everyone was doing something very different and they were all very dedicated to their own. I think the industry now has got too concerned with validation from the rest of the industry,” she said.

The Detroit-born Kelsey Ann Kasom, who wishes to work for an haute couture house after graduation, showcased a sculptural garment that resembles the exterior skeleton of an extraterrestrial being.

Kasom explained during the exhibition that her work is about taking ownership of the female body, whether it’s for a person born as a woman, or those who identify as a woman.

“For me, this is like armor. In relation to my own journey, this reflects protection and preservation,” she said. “I think for a woman, these words are really important to us, while also remaining vulnerable and being true to who we are by having these open spaces of vacancy where you can touch and see through.”

In Kasom’s opinion, Broach is pushing beyond traditional systematic views of fashion by challenging students like her to discover their own values.

“As a female womenswear designer, [Broach] has encouraged me to be authentic, by looking deeper inward to create courageously through the storytelling of my own identity manifested within my work,” she added.