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Rising fashion star Kiki Fraikue featured in GQ
Saturday, 16 March, 2024 — Plymouth-born 20-year-old designer chosen for profile in leading fashion magazine
<p dir="ltr">20-year-old fashion designer <a href="https://kikifraikue.myportfolio.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kiki Fraikue</a>, a BA (Hons) Fashion Design student from Arts University Plymouth, has been selected to feature in prestigious fashion magazine GQ. Kiki was contacted by representatives of GQ and chosen for their Lookbook based on the strength of her Erasure Clothing streetwear brand on Instagram.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Kiki's journey with Arts University Plymouth began in 2020 when she joined the Pre-Degree <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/pre-degree/ual-level-3-extended-diploma-in-art-design-fashion-textiles">Extended Diploma in Fashion & Textiles</a>, which she completed in 2022. The young fashion designer had such a positive experience on the course that she chose to stay at Arts University Plymouth to enrol on the undergraduate <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-fashion-design">BA (Hons) Fashion Design</a>.<br /></p>
Kiki Fraikue
<p dir="ltr">Kiki, who was raised in London and has lived in Plymouth since 2013, works as a freelance graphic and fashion designer, became serious about her Erasure Clothing fashion brand in 2022 during her Extended Diploma, where she first learned to screen print and began designing and selling her own t-shirts, stickers and clothing.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Kiki said: “When designing I enjoy exploring art and music and pulling together different genres, including streetwear, formalwear, boxy silhouettes and my own sketches. Recently I've been drawing from my surroundings more than usual and this has really helped me to develop my personal style."<br /></p>
Kiki in the studio. Image Credit: Mia Prior.
<p dir="ltr">“I chose Arts University Plymouth because I felt it was the best place to study for both the education and the community that I joined. I've always loved creative expression in the forms of clothing and art and chose fashion because it combines the things that I love. After graduating I hope to get an internship in design, creative direction or styling, continuing to develop my own fashion brand."<br /></p>
Erasure Clothing. Image Credit: Toby Lever
<p dir="ltr">Speaking about being featured in GQ, Kiki said: “GQ emailed me completely unexpectedly to say that they’d seen my work and wanted to feature it in their magazine. I only had a week to organise and execute a fashion shoot to capture images that were high quality enough to represent my work to such a large audience. It was a really cool experience and amazing that they’ve featured my work multiple times now. Being featured in GQ hasn’t exactly changed my plans for the future but it has given me more confidence, opened doors and helped me to build a network of creatives who I can work with on future projects.”<br /></p>
Erasure Clothing.
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/people/heather-martin">Heather Martin</a>, Course Leader for BA (Hons) Fashion Design at Arts University Plymouth, said: “What an incredible achievement Kiki. To have your Erasure brand featured so regularly in GQ in just your second year of undergraduate Fashion Design study with us is a tremendous professional accomplishment. You are carving out a unique visual identity for your brand and have tapped into an emerging voice that represents Gen Z British youth culture.”<br /></p>
Erasure Clothing
<p dir="ltr">Kiki’s Erasure brand was featured in the November 2023, December 2023/January 2024 and February 2024 Lookbook sections of GQ Magazine. Over the coming weeks, Kiki is selling off existing stock through her <a href="https://www.instagram.com/erasureclothing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Erasure</a> Instagram account in preparation to relaunch the brand with a completely new collection.<br /></p>
