Asra Amin’s vibrant and youthful womenswear is a light-hearted response to her diverse and overlapping lifestyle. Her Graduate collection is rooted in a personal experience of being left behind after a wedding and navigating London’s streets and Underground overdressed, her embellished veil drawing curious glances from strangers. Veiling conceals many layers of her person and personality, what lies beneath many a stark exterior is a colourful celebration of youthful energy and eclecticism. An odd yet authentic representation of craving for glamour despite the impracticality. Vibrant pink and lime play key parts in this clash of style and shapes. The collection journeys through the many versions of the designer, collated into several layers - all equally important. This moment became the starting point for an exploration of visibility and concealment. While veiling often obscures outward identity, it also conceals the complexity, humour and contradictions that exist beneath the surface. The collection reflects the designer’s ongoing negotiation between dressing modestly and embracing innate glamour, the struggle to dress ‘appropriately’ recurs in many situations. These ideas are translated directly into the garments through acts of literal and symbolic veiling. Layers of dark fine tulle are suspended over vibrant luminous silk; partially obscuring the colour, echo the experience of concealment while revealing glimpses of what lies beneath. Voluminous silhouettes draw inspiration from vintage batwing abayas; a daily attire for the designer, reinterpreting their fluidity and elegance within a contemporary womenswear context. Each garment becomes a study of the many versions of the self, with every layer holding equal significance. Amin’s practice places great importance on silhouette development. Unusual garment and styling combinations from a rich scope between the Middle East and the West, result in equally unique shapes; a factor that the designer once combatted but now has become an elusive area of exploration. Techniques including embroidery, textile manipulation, print and handcrafted embellishment further propel her collection. Amin celebrates the human instinct to imprint personal clothing with markers of identity, exploring how garments become extensions of the people who wear them, for example group identity and belonging are interpreted in her ‘football shirt’. Her work celebrates dressing as an emotional and performative act, embracing contradiction through garments that are joyful, expressive and deeply personal. By transforming an everyday moment of vulnerability into a vibrant visual narrative, her collection invites the wearer to reconsider their relationship between identity and clothing.