The coat, left, created by Deep Lee, right, that is to be shown on the catwalk by students from Central St Martin's College

Published: 17 May, 2012
by TOM FOOT

THEY vowed that her memory would live on after her death – and this week friends and class­mates of the cyclist Deep Lee have been busy creating one of her mens­wear fashion designs for a special catwalk display in her memory at her former Central St Martin’s College.

The 24-year-old died under the wheels of a heavy goods vehicle at the junction of York Way and Gray’s Inn Road, King’s Cross, in October last year.

Her boyfriend Kenji Hirasawa, who has been helping with the graduation ceremony, said: “It is graduation show and Deep’s collection will be shown.

"Her classmates are making the garment now using fine wool.”

An inquest into the death of Deep Lee, from Korea, was postponed last week while the Crown Prosecution Service decide whether to bring charges against the lorry driver.

The junction where she died was altered last month by Transport for London.

Two lanes of traffic can now pass over the junction preventing a dangerous “pinch” of cars into one lane as they drive north.

Mr Hirasawa, a photographer who lives in Dalston, said he wanted to “forget about the accident” but he couldn’t until the junction was properly addressed.

The changes do not go far enough, according to Mr Hirasawa.

He said he will write to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to warn him of the dangers of his Barclay’s bike hire scheme running before roads are safe for cyclists.

“She [Deep] obviously got influenced to ride when Barclay’s bike was placed in the city.

"Even though the road is not safe enough, the city accepted this project.

"I heard lots of areas still have problems to share the road with the car driver and the cyclist.”

He added: “I want to work to make the road safer.

"I think I should write the letter to the London Mayor about the road and show this on the media.”

At her memorial last year, tutor Christopher New said: “We want to make sure the memory of Deep lives on.

"It will show some of the excellent stuff she did over the years.

"From the outset she was an exceptional student, someone we all noticed.”

He recalled a “fantastic suit”, which involved an “incredible piece of engineering”, adding: “It was a suit combined with a backpack, and com­bined in the backpack was a coat that could open out over the suit.

"When she first showed it to us we said it was far too hard to attempt. She proved us wrong.”