My life as a bridal fashion designer in Berlin. Volume 6

In September 1999, I enrolled in Central Saint Martin's (CSM) BA Fashion Design in Women's Wear.

I still remember the first day at CSM at our base in Charing Cross Road.

The room was full of mostly 18/19 years old, colourful, international characters. Back in the day, there were quite a few Japanese students, one each from the major countries, and of course, some UK students, all of whom were from outside of London.

Many of us hoped to become the next iconic British fashion designers like the Alumni. 90S was the height of “Cool Britannia”.

We presented our summer project, which we worked on individually before starting the course as our introduction to each other's style, character, and backgrounds. We were eyeing each other to see who was at the top or the bottom.

Our first course project was called “White Project”. We were all given the same material to create all white pieces.

For me, it turned out to be the most memorable project we’ve done in the whole three year degree course.

I did a piece with panels and armholes that can be worn in about 20 ways.

The photos were the works of two of my classmates. Those are the most stunning garments I've seen still to this day.

Fast forward to 2016, one of my last freelance work before moving to Berlin was as a technical support for the first year students at CSM in their new Kings Cross campus. They were still doing the “White Project”.

All my classmates’ work was impressive and seeing their creations, thought processes, and work ethics was what shaped me today as well as the critiques from the tutors.

In this melting pot, I also learnt a lot about each other’s cultures, and my interest in foreign languages grew, so much so that I took some courses in French and German at the Uni.

I was also the only person enthusiastic about the obligatory cultural studies, where we had to take lectures on different cultural subjects and write essays. I see now that’s how it got me to enjoy writing today, but back in the day, although I thoroughly enjoyed it, my English weren't up to scratch for academia and I needed a lot of help from my housemates.

After graduating, some had a few years of limelight in the London Fashion Week scene before fading away. Some got a top job in luxury fashion, some got married straight after uni and many gave up on a career in fashion.

One of them is actually an international star designer, but unlike me, he didn't graduate

To be honest, I wasn't being liked by most of my tutors because I wasn't the typical designer material that drew fantasy fashion figures all day or made headline worthy, outlandish looks that they're known for. My pattern cutting tutor spotted my creative flair in pattern cutting and I believe she advocated for me. Probably without her support, I wouldn’t graduate.