Menswear designer Mark Glasgow hails from the small coastal village of Donaghadee in Northern Ireland. Overwhelmed by the conservatism of his native country, he relocated to Manchester to study sculpture at the Manchester School of Art, however, before early into the course, he transferred to the fashion course at the same institution. “When I finished three years later, I felt that there was so much I hadn’t resolved, so a Masters felt like the right thing to do,” he writes over e-mail, as he explains his decision to do an MA at the prestigious Royal College of Art in London. He was particularly attracted to the Menswear pathway because of its strength and uniqueness, led by the former Calvin Klein designer Ike Rust, who took over the reigns and transformed the course in 1998. “I think the fact that the course is seperate from Womenswear has allowed it to grow in an interesting direction,” he explains. “The other thing is the total transparency between the different departments, and the ease with which you can collaborate with other departments and meet people from such a breadth of backgrounds. Finally, I found it a genuinely friendly place, there’s more a sense of mutual support rather than competition.”
“I’M NOT SURE IF THERE WAS A RESOLUTION, BUT IT DEFINITELY FELT GOOD – AND RIGHT FOR ME – TO DO SOMETHING DEFIANTLY QUEER AND OPTIMISTIC.”