Domingo Rodriguez - MA Fashion Design Technology
Domingo Rodriguez studied full time on MA Fashion Design and Technology, Menswear and graduated in 2010.
Before the MA, Domingo won the Menswear Award at Graduate Fashion Week having completed a BA (Hons) Degree in Fashion Design and Textiles at Liverpool John Moores University.
"Winning the Menswear Award was unreal and a real honour for me. A lot of good things have come from it, including getting on to this masters degree. I also applied for funding through the Harold Tillman Scholarship scheme, and was lucky enough to be awarded the scholarship, which has helped me enormously.
"I have always had a strong interest in menswear design, and after speaking to LCF tutors at Graduate Fashion week decided to apply for the masters degree, as LCF has always had a strong reputation in menswear design and it's getting stronger every year, and the technology at the college is amazing!
"The course is very intense and hard work, but it was a natural progression for me to do this after my degree. I am creating new concepts in menswear which is slightly different to my degree work, as it's much more in-depth. I have just completed my first assignment - which was designing and making a cashmere jersey.
"My advice to any prospective postgraduate student would be - show enthusiasm! People think they can 'do' fashion - but it's extremely hard work both studying and within the industry itself. You've got to really love what you're doing to stay in it."
Arts London News interview
Following on from the success of the 2010 MA Catwalk Show Domingo was interviewed for Arts London News in February 2010.
''The tutors here (at LCF) are amazing and they give you great advice. In fact, my collection was going to be in dark colours but one of my tutors suggested that I do it in lighter colours, and so I did, and now it looks amazing,'' revealed Rodriguez.
He spoke candidly about the many benefits of enrolling onto the MA Design and Technology course: "It developed me in very different ways, design- wise. You get to travel to different countries and visit these amazing fashion houses and fashion production places and that could really make a difference to your collection," he said.
He carefully picked up one of his coats from his collection and placed it on his lap by way of example, before continuing: ''Nearly all the fabrics were donated to us by different fabric companies that we have visited or done work with. The leather for this jacket was specially made.
''Overall, I guess I did have to work harder than others, maybe because I had to start from the basics when I started in fashion. I didn't even have a sewing machine in the beginning,'' he laughs.