York-based fashion designer Matty Bovan directs Leeds Beckett University's Class of 2023 takeover at Trinity Leeds shopping centre

Yet this is exactly what happened when Trinity Leeds shopping centre was taken over last month by Leeds Beckett University’s Fashion Class of 2023, boldly showcasing their avant-garde graduate collections in this grand temple of fashion commerce, supervised by their teacher, the internationally acclaimed fashion designer Matty Bovan.

“It’s always been exciting for me to work with fashion students in the North,” said Bovan, “inspiring students to push their own expectations of their creativity and their own selves.”

Pushing expectations, boundaries and possibilities is what Matty Bovan does. Today he celebrates his investiture as Professor of Fashion at Leeds Beckett University with a day-long performance, deconstructing the traditional inaugural lecture format while transforming his space and himself throughout the day. Called SQUISH: TRASH: COSMETIC, the general public is invited alongside students, and anyone can ask anything they like as he metamorphoses.

Having this ground-breaking, York-based, young British fashion designer on the teaching staff is an undoubted coup for LBU. Known for his elevation of craft and his commitment to sustainability and upcycling, Bovan’s late grandmother, Joan, introduced him to knitting. After Millthorpe School in York, at 16 he went to York College for a diploma in Fashion, followed by a foundation at Leeds Beckett University, then to Central Saint Martins for a BA, graduating from there in 2015 with an MA in Knitwear Design (eight years in education made possible through scholarships). And after this, he surprised the fashion industry by leaving London and moving back to Yorkshire (The Hepworth, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Leeds Art Gallery are all great sources of inspiration).

Bovan is a polymath, bringing design, creative directing, styling, make-up artistry, film-making, teaching and modelling all within his dizzying sphere of work. In 2021 he won a double Woolmark International award and was praised for working with local suppliers and manufacturers, including using roll-end cloth from AW Hainsworth. He launched a thought-provoking installation at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, inviting visitors to try on his sculptural designs. In 2020 he brought London Fashion Week to Yorkshire when he created his own locked-down show at York Cemetery Chapel.

And last year he made his debut at Milan Fashion Week with the help of Dolce & Gabbana, which supplied him with fabrics and materials. “Craft and handiwork are at the heart of my work, something that myself and this iconic maison have great affinity with,” he said.

Being based in the North is important to him. “As a designer, I feel fortunate to have my studio in Yorkshire, but be able to work across the globe, and still be able to work on my own collections, and teach in the North,” he said.

His inaugural presentation forms part of his dedicated LBU fashion season of events, RUN. This will culminate in two graduate runway shows (matinee and evening) on Thursday, June 1, at the theatre at the new LBU Leeds School of Arts building, which opened in March, when it was described by deputy vice chancellor Tracey Lancaster as “an £80m love letter to the creative arts”.

The Fashion Class of ‘23 will showcase their final designs, while the second year students will display work from their Alexander McQueen project. They have cast non-professional models to recognise and celebrate the “beauty on the streets”.

“This year’s graduating class are very diverse in their fashion thinking,” said LBU’s head of Fashion Sam Hudson-Miles. “The students have excelled in pushing their own creative identity, leaning into the physicality of working in the studio, after having experienced the restrictions of the lockdowns.”

Leeds School of Arts educates artists and creatives who go on to work in all sectors of arts and culture across art, design, fashion, music, theatre, film, architecture, and creative technologies. LBU has created The Fashion & Sustainability Research Group which aims to develop new approaches to fashion production.

“Our students are ever more aware and conscious of sustainability, and this is firmly embedded into the ethos of the course from first year to final year,” said Sam Hudson-Miles. “It’s not just sustainability, we are seeing students more and more active in representing gender inclusivity, and body positivity and diversity, into their fashion design thinking. This is great to see and very much encouraged.”

Bovan met and worked with the late, great Vivienne Westwood on many occasions, and both he and Sam say that her “spirit of having complete self-belief and conviction in her ideas and ideals, and never taking no for an answer” is something they carry through the course and instil into their students’ own self-belief and self-confidence. “One of Vivienne’s key messages was to question everything and not be afraid to speak your truth - this is an important message to our young students,” they say.

Meanwhile, Matty Bovan’s work on his own label collections continues, with his shows among the most eagerly anticipated. His most recent AW23/24 collection shown in February at London Fashion Week, was 90 per cent upcycled and used deadstock fabrics including a golden quilted fabric and a floral jacquard he had hoarded through the pandemic. He described the pieces as “rudimentary and intricate, new sci-fi baroque, hand scrawled, painted patterns illustrate humanity in its sumptuous antithesis to an AI-controlled digital future. Hand drawn, hand touched, mistakes, these all contribute to my world of splendour and luxury, infused with the dirty, worn, and overdyed.”

But he does not discourage the use of AI and technology in the creative sector, saying: “We are encouraging of students to work across all genres of creative applications, from hand-rendered to digital/virtual.”

No doubt there will be much more pushing of all creative boundaries to come from Bovan and his students. Expect the unexpected, always.

• The Fashion Class of ‘23 graduate runway shows (matinee and evening) - parts of LEEDS 2023 programme of cultural events - will take place on Thursday, June 1, at the theatre at the new Leeds School of Arts building, Leeds Beckett University City Campus, Portland Way, see https://leeds2023.co.uk/whats-on/run-graduate-fashion-show Instagram: @leedsbeckettfashion @lbu_lsa @Leeds2023 Twitter:@leedsbeckett @lbu_lsa @leeds_2023
• See Matty Bovan’s work at www.mattybovan.com Instagram: @babbym