Star turn

Fashion industry wannabes give up the summer sun for a crash course with a professional designer, writes Jennifer Currie.

Summer and school may be the last two words you would expect to hear an adolescent utter in the same breath, but as surprising as it seems, the classrooms of the London College of Fashion are packed with teenagers during the warmer months. Keen to scale the dizzy heights of the fashion industry, these school pupils do not seem to mind missing out on some sunshine.

Just as willing to sacrifice a well-earned rest in the name of art is summer school tutor Natascha Radcliffe-Thomas, a lecturer at the College of Fashion, childrenswear designer, businesswoman and co-ordinator of the Fashion Experience.

Funded by a National Lottery grant and the Arts Council, the two-week programme for 15 to 18-year-olds is part of the wider "Young At Art" programme run by the London Institute. Its glamorous subject matter and hands-on approach have made it one of the most popular courses at the summer school.

"It was originally developed as a Saturday school but it grew," recalls Radcliffe-Thomas. "The Fashion College was looking for a tutor who would work well with kids, and someone thought of me, and soon I was asked to design a longer programme."

The fashion wannabes are given a crash course in design and leave armed with an impressive portfolio, some insider tips, as well as a taste of what life is like as an art student.

"I hope they have fun, that's the main thing," Radcliffe-Thomas says. "But we do want them to take it seriously and to work hard.

"It's quite an intense experience for us all. The kids have very little fashion knowledge so they are just thrown straight in there. It's not like working with college students where it tends to take a while to get all the elements of a design to come together." Gesturing to a selection of weird and wonderful millinery in a corner, she says: "Here, the course is short with tangible outcomes so the kids get to see some results."

There are classes in fashion styling and make-up techniques where the class members get to practise on each other. Trade secrets are also helpfully divulged along the way. "Legs should be longer than they are in real life, shoulders should be squarer, heads smaller and hands bigger than normal," the students are told. "And remember where the hairline starts," Radcliffe-Thomas adds, stopping by a half-finished sketch of a semi-bald, curvaceous blue figure.

The aim is not to boost the Fashion College's undergraduate numbers, but it is hoped that the children will use this opportunity to develop and experiment with their own interests. "A lot have been asking about university courses already, but some of them are a bit young for that yet. It's all about raising awareness of the possibilities of going to art college and all the different career paths that are available."

The teaching pace is fast and furious to keep the children on their toes - quite literally. A volunteer from each cluster of drawing boards is asked to clamber onto a table and then to strike a fashionable pose, which is instantly recorded for posterity by an army of felt-tip wielding artists. "This time it's illegal to take the pen off the paper," comes the command. "The figure must be drawn in one continuous movement."

"I'm learning a lot," says Emily Mann. Aged 16, she says she likes designing "all sorts of things, but I'm not sure about fashion though. I'd quite like to be an architect. But this course is definitely great fun."