If you want a glimpse of the fashion of tomorrow, it is worth taking a look at the winners of this year's Graduate Fashion Week, which took place in Shoreditch, London last week. For thousands of fashion students from the most influential creative arts' universities in the country, this was their opportunity to make an impression. For the GFW judges, it was an opportunity to scope out the most promising fresh talent.
Among the judges were Diane Von Furstenberg, Oliver Spencer, Henry Holland, and Selvedge founder Polly Leonard. Over the four-day event, they and their teams were tasked with picking out the most exciting fashion designers, illustrators, photographers, and catwalk shows, which was no easy task considering the sheer number of entries. Polly's team were given the Catwalk Textiles Award to judge and included Lizzy Bowring, Catwalk Director at WGSN and Nigel Luck, Director of MA Fashion Design and Technology at London College of Fashion.
The prestigious Christopher Bailey Gold Award was awarded to Rebecca Wilson from Arts University Bournemouth. Her menswear, womenswear and childrenswear collections, which were inspired by Victorian working-class clothing, impressed the judges. Diane Von Furstenberg described Wilson's work as "incredibly forceful".
Aurelie Fontan from Edinburgh College of Art won both the M&S Womenswear Award and the Catwalk Textiles Award for her innovative designs. Judges called Fontan's designs as "fashion meets science" and were impressed by her passion.
Two students won the Visionary Knitwear Award: Fraser Miller from De Montfort University and Nottingham Trent University's Jacaranda Brain both impressed the judges so much that they felt obliged to award the prize to both of them. Brain's reaction to winning expressed both joy and surprise that his collection "based on a weird little creature under the sea" had won.
Congratulations to all of the GFW winners. The fashion world will be waiting with baited breath to see how these new graduates develop as designers.