Seamless victory for Northumbria fashionista

Ledina Zhang received the BHM Knitwear Visionary award for her one-seam, one-size-fits-all knitwear collection exhibited during the Northumbria School of Design fashion show in London. The prize includes a cash award and one-on-one mentoring sessions with people from key brands within the fashion retailing industry, such as Burberry, John Lewis, Karen Millen, Pringle of Scotland and Mulberry.

Ledina’s collection featured over-sized knitwear for men and women, including snoods, hoods and earmuff accessories.

She said: “I was very excited to be nominated for the award and when the judges announced my name as the winner I was surprised. My collection was inspired by post-modernist architecture and I based it on the Pompidou Centre in Paris, which has lots of colourful tubes surrounding it and an interesting surface.

“I am also influenced by my favourite designers, Issey Miyake, Vivienne Westwood, Kenzo and Tsumori Chisato.”

The 27-year-old, originally from Beijing, is in her final year of a BA (Hons) Fashion degree run by the School of Design, and hopes to gain further work experience with UK fashion houses following graduation this summer. She also plans to expand her fashion label, which she launched in Beijing earlier this year, to Australia.

Ledina believes her fashion talents were inherited from her grandmother. She said: “She is a tailor so I used to use her sewing machine when I was 10 years old and make clothes for my Barbie dolls. I would then take the outfits to school and sell them to my friends.

“In February I launched my ‘Ledina Zhang’ label in Beijing, which sells menswear, womenswear, knitwear and accessories. I hope to take the label to Australia also and, eventually, the UK. My future aim is to keep learning, keep improving and keep striving out in new directions. I want to inject new blood into the fashion industry.”

The BA Honours Fashion degree is a four-year course covering menswear, womenswear, textiles and knitwear. In addition to the high-quality teaching, students benefit from the expertise of visiting designers and other specialists, gaining valuable experience while working on projects set by major fashion companies.

Programme Leader Emma Goldsmith said: “Ledina’s stunning collection really impressed the judges in London. She has demonstrated great talent and technical skill throughout her time at Northumbria. Everyone at the School of Design is very proud of Ledina and delighted by her success.”

Ledina's collection will be on display, alongside that of her fellow graduating students, at Reveal 2010 – Northumbria University’s end of year Design degree show, from Thursday 17th June to Friday 25th June, at the School of Design, City Campus East.

Reveal 2010 is open to the public and includes the work of final-year students from 3D Design, Design for Industry, Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Interior Design, Multimedia Design, and Transportation Design. Entry is free and doors will be open between 10am and 4pm.