Coventry University Fashion student puts her best foot forward

A final year Fashion student from Coventry University has created a challenging footwear final project that looks at foot deformities.

Philippa Graham, 22, from Shropshire, came up with the idea for her Degree Show project as a way to test herself and her fashion skills. Having always designed clothes, she decided to produce a footwear collection that the general public could relate to – focusing in the end on foot deformities, in particular blisters.

While producing her project, Philippa has been taking advantage of Coventry University’s state-of-the-art fashion facilities – including bullet moulders and vacuum former equipment – to create a blister shape for bulging shoes.

Her aim was to make the shoes look attractive but also to show they can be comfortable as well as pretty. Each shoe shape is unique and not easy to replicate, making them unlike anything you would see on the high street.

Philippa said:

I wanted to try something new and innovative for my final degree project. I want people to realise that shoes can be appealing but also easy to wear and shouldn’t always have to conform to the usual rules.

Philippa previously worked with classmates to raise money for the Coventry Cyrenians charity, by reconstructing some counterfeit garments into new and sellable pieces. HM Revenue and Customs would normally destroy these garments due to the fake labels within them; however the group removed these and remade them into desirable one-offs.

The deformity footwear project will be available to view from 2nd June – 10th June as part of the Coventry University Degree Show 2012 in the Graham Sutherland Building on Gosford Street, Coventry.