The talent of tomorrow

As Graduate Fashion Week 2019 comes to a close in London, the brightest stars of the industry have been named. We take a look at some of the winners.

In its 28th year, the Graduate Fashion Week is known as the best celebration of the newest talent in the industry. This year hasn’t disappointed.

Christopher Bailey Gold Award: Brian McLysaght from Edinburgh College of Art

Made from sustainable and biodegradable wood, Brian McLysaght’s collection caught the eye of the star studded panel of judges.

“Choosing the winner was for me relatively straightforward,” said designer and judge Christopher Raeburn. “There was on stand out designer who I felt really exemplified the brief in terms of catwalk impact, level of craft, creativity, skill, expertise and thoroughness, research and material choices -really impressive.”

McLysaght was also the winner of the Hilary Alexander Trailblazer Award and the Conscious Design Award sponsored by Swarovski.

Commenting on McLysaght’s success in all three categories, Hilary Alexander said:

“We chose this winner because the work stood out almost immediately and it was about the one collection that we couldn’t stop talking about and we kept on going back to.  We looked at others and then we went back to it.  The work was extraordinarily beautiful.”

“It feels absolutely incredible to have won all of these awards, I’m so thankful,” said McLysaght.  “What really made me win these awards was the standard at Edinburgh, everybody in our class is so incredible, we hold each other to such exceptional standard.”

Womenswear Award: Alexandra Fan from Edinburgh College of Art.

“This award means a lot to me, this was such a tough project and awards like this really encourage you to curate everything in the smallest detail” said Fan. “I started working on it in September and have been putting constant effort on it until the last day.”

Fan also won the David Band Textiles Award.

Commenting on her success, the designer Henry Holland said: “From the minute I saw it (the collection) I knew that it was going to be my favourite.  It blew me away, was nothing like I had ever seen before.

The George Catwalk to Store Award went to Rosie Baird from Edinburgh College of Art.

Baird said, “I’m so overwhelmed, thank you to everyone who listened to what I have to say. My collection was inspired by storytelling in Scotland.”

Greg Brears from Birmingham City University was the winner of the 2019 Menswear Award. “It doesn’t seem real,” he said, “I didn’t think I’d be here in first place, never mind win an award.”

The winner of the Catwalk Knitwear Award was Hannah Stote from Bath Spa University. Her collection was selected by Joanne Jorgensen, Julien MacDonald OBE, Deanna Ferretti, Sonia Veroni and Gemma Metheringham.

“It’s so fantastic to be recognised, and I think that sustainable fashion is so important! I have no words and I love to be able to share my work with everybody and show how interesting and exciting knitwear can be!”

Other winners included:

Clarks Footwear Award: Keri Thornton from De Montfort University

Tu Sainsbury’s Scholarships: Josephine Roberts from Northumbria University and Michella Knight from Nottingham Trent University.

International Fashion Award sponsored by GAP Inc: Ivy Lan from Savannah College of Art and Design Hong Kong.