New plans for a Scottish Academy of Fashion aim to stop the flood of emerging designers heading south. But is it enough to arrest talent migration?
By Edd McCracken

WORLD-class fashion designers usually lay their immaculately-tailored hats in one of four places: Paris, New York, Milan or London. But if Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) has its way, Scotland's capital could one day tempt some of them to call it home.

The college has revealed its plas to create the Scottish Academy of Fashion. Ambitions for it are high. Talks are still at a relatively early stage, but officials at ECA hope the academy could stimulate a fashion industry in Scotland and help retain some of the native world-class designers who have had to move to London or further afield to realise their ambitions.

In recent years Scottish designers have been the hottest names on the world's catwalks. UK Vogue began its review of Christopher Kane's debut show at London Fashion week in 2006 saying: "There are certain moments in fashion history where you want to be able to say, I was there'."

The Motherwell native has since designed outfits for Kylie and Beth Ditto from The Gossip. He also advised Donatella Versace, whose designs helped advance the career of Scottish supermodel Kirsty Hume. She sported one of Versace's ensembles at 1998's Milan fashion show. Meanwhile, the Glaswegian Jonathan Saunders has been feted by Alexander McQueen and now divides his time between London and New York.

Kane and Saunders are prime examples of Scottish talent that has left Scotland, both studying at the world famous Central Saint Martins College in London, whose alumni include Stella McCartney, Terence Conran and John Galliano. The Scottish Academy of Fashion hopes to arrest this migration.

Alan Murray, head of design at Edinburgh College of Art, said the academy "will promote excellence in Scottish fashion and textiles, both nationally and internationally, through strong partnerships between academic institutions and industry. We also hope to work collaboratively with key organisations to ensure that young Scottish design talent is nurtured and retained in Scotland, and can make a valuable contribution to our creative industries."

ECA currently offers a fashion MA and regularly shows at London Fashion Week, the only Scottish institution to do so. But insiders say the academy will take fashion education and research to the next level, and through bolstering links with manufacturers in Scotland, bring the whole industry with it.

Officials are in negotiations with the School of Textiles and Design in Galashiels to build one of the key partnerships between other academic institutions.

"There is no reason why there shouldn't be a fashion industry in Scotland," said Ian Howard, principal of ECA. "I was in Dublin recently and there was a thriving industry there, so there's no reason why not here. The talent in Scotland just isn't joined up with the industry in Scotland. That's why so many go to London."

As yet, there is no timetable for when the academy will become a reality, but it is believed it will teach at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

The proposed academy has been warmly welcomed by industry figures.

Kirsty Scott, head of the textiles team at Scottish Enterprise, said: "Scotland has a real abundance of young design talent with many Scottish designers finding acclaim on international catwalks or working for international fashion houses. ECA's plans for a Scottish Academy of Fashion would be a positive step in helping to retain top designers and support the growth of the wider textiles and fashion industry in Scotland."

Graeme Armour was a classmate of Christopher Kane at Central Saint Martins College. His tale is a familiar one. "Once I'd finished my HND at Cardonald College, I looked around and felt I'd done everything there was to do in Scotland so I headed to London to Saint Martins," he said.

Since graduating Armour has stayed in London and is launching his first solo show in September. He hopes the academy can make the fashion scene stronger in Scotland.

"If this creates links with industry in Scotland and helps designers stay in Scotland, manufacture there and show globally, that's a great thing," he said.

Scott Ramsay Kyle is another London-based Scottish designer. He studied at Glasgow School of Art before moving south because the only practical experience he could get was "working in a mill in the Borders". He said the best thing the academy could do would be to bring a healthy dose of reality to young designers based in Scotland.

"The fashion industry is amazing to be part of, but it's really hard work," he said. "If there was something in Scotland that had tutors who worked in London and Paris, so people would know the reality of the industry, that would be great. When I was in Scotland I didn't realise a lot of things until I moved to London, where I had to wake up really quickly. I was in a bubble."

Not all the reaction to the proposed academy has been unguardedly positive, with some designers pointing out that Edinburgh, and Scotland in general, will never be able to match London for its international reputation and historic glut of designers.

"It really helps with a fashion institution to be in among a city where it's happening," said Jamie Bruski Tetsill, dubbed "the next big thing out of Scotland" by Vogue. "I'm not saying things aren't happening in Edinburgh, but it's not really a fashion capital. If you're going to study fashion you would want to be in a city where you can show, where you have designers around you. I just feel that it will be difficult to achieve that in Edinburgh.

"There's loads of talent coming out, and that is recognised. We've loads of designers who would go down and study at Saint Martins, but I have a feeling they will still do that. But who knows in 10 years' time?"