Twenty third-year students from Heriot Watt University's Fashion Communication BA course were taken on a tour of the Poetry for the Palace exhibition, with an eye to exploring the representation of the written word in a visual form.

The Course Director, Theresa Coburn, chose Poetry for the Palace as a point of departure for students' research, enabling them to develop creative ideas to be adapted for a fashion shoot project.

Students focused on their preferred poems, undertaking further research and exploring themes as diverse as regal ceremony, club culture and cosmetic surgery. The most referenced poems cited as inspiration were The Crown and The Thames, London 2012 by Carol Ann Duffy.

Theresa Coburn said of the project:

This has been an extremely exciting and inspiring collaborative project for the Heriot Watt University Fashion Communication students. Their brief was to respond to the Poetry for the Palace exhibition through the development and creation of a series of contemporary and cutting-edge fashion photography images.

Students used the imagery within the poetry as inspiration for their research which elicited many highly original personal fashion styling outcomes.  It reinforced the students' appreciation of the importance of using historic and contemporary culture to inspire originality in ideas and also emphasised the role that galleries, museums, exhibitions and archives play in influencing and inspiring a new generation of creative thinkers and practitioners.

The three winning photographs produced by the students can be viewed here.

The Fashion Communication BA Course

This programme is aimed at students fascinated by the diversity of ways that fashion and clothing are communicated, promoted and presented creatively to different audiences. Fashion Communication is the activity that supports or encourages the promotion and purchases of fashion products through photography, film, digital media, performance, music, advertising and journalism. Transferable skills lead to careers in all related areas of fashion communication including advertising, fashion journalism, art direction, fashion photography, styling and events management, graphic design, fashion PR and web design.

Royal Collection Trust Learning Programme

The opportunity for Royal Collection Trust to work with Heriot Watt University Fashion Communication students has been extremely valuable. The photography produced has brought a layer of engagement and interpretation which not only extends but adds to the life of the exhibition. The fascinating images created have provided Poetry for the Palace with a visual legacy beyond the exhibition period and provide a vibrant, exciting addition to the Royal Collection Trust website.