Fashion students get their designs catwalk ready for Graduate Fashion Week

Fifteen Fashion students from the University of Northampton will be presenting their final year collections to industry heavyweights on Monday 1 June at Graduate Fashion Week (GFW) 2015 in London.

With collection inspirations ranging from ’70s glamour, architecture and Japanese paper sculpture to Indian prints and Arabic culture, this year’s catwalk show is not to be missed. Students will be showcasing collections working with a range of materials and textures from leather and PVC to the finest silks, including bamboo silk, neoprene and jersey. Uniquely, students taking part in the University of Northampton’s GFW catwalk show have collaborated with accessories and footwear students, completing the ‘catwalk-ready’ look.

Dr Julie King, Head of Fashion at the University of Northampton said: “Our Fashion students have become widely recognised for their talents and skills in craftsmanship, design and manufacture – and most importantly for being ahead of the design curve. The University of Northampton has long established links with industry, which develops our student’s industry ready employability skills.”

Graduates from the University of Northampton are well known and celebrated within the industry. Last year, Helen Kirkum was awarded the inaugural Cordwainers’ Footwear Student of the Year award and was presented with her prize by luxury shoe designer, Jimmy Choo. Recent graduate, Kirandeep Bassan won the Zandra Rhodes Catwalk Textiles Award at Graduate Fashion Week 2013 and was a finalist in the Grazia Magazine 2013 ‘Fash Factor’ competition. Kerrie Luft, who graduated in 2005 has launched her own footwear brand and was the winner of the Fashion Fringe’s Accessories Prize in 2011.

Rachel Garwood, Director of the Institute for Creative Leather Technologies, said: “The University of Northampton is home to the only functioning tannery at any University in the UK.  This close link with the leather industry offers fashion students a unique opportunity to develop their knowledge and expertise when working with leather. Our students have a complete hide to high street experience of the leather making process, understanding the importance of sustainable and ethical sourcing of the raw materials, through to high end leather working for the fashion and footwear industries.”

Graduate Fashion Week has been firmly established as the world’s leading event for fashion graduates and every year attracts support from the international fashion cognoscenti. The University of Northampton’s Catwalk Show will take place on Monday 1 June at 3:30pm at The Old Truman Brewery.

Find out more about Graduate Fashion Week.