Creative talent on show as Northumbria students wow at Graduate Fashion Week

Fashion students from Northumbria University, Newcastle showcased their work in front of some of the most influential names in the industry during Graduate Fashion Week in London.

The annual event features work by students and graduates from some of the most inspiring universities around the world and includes catwalk shows, exhibitions, awards, live talks and workshops by leading names from the fashion industry.

Students from Northumbria’s Fashion, Fashion Design and Marketing and Fashion Communication courses showed their final undergraduate year work throughout the week, with an impressive 17 students shortlisted for awards.

There was success for Fashion Communication students Ede Dugdale and Hollie Bell, who were named runners up in the Fashion Photography Award and Drapers' Fashion Publication Award respectively. In addition, Fashion Design and Marketing student Alexandra Ward was runner up in the Mothercare Childrenswear Award.

One of the highlights of the week was Northumbria’s catwalk show, which featured collections from 17 Fashion students.

 Caitlin Hudson

Kate Alexander 

Jessie McEwan 

Danielle Wallace 

Isabel Shwarz 

 Harriet Eccleston

 Charlotte Cannon

 Lavony Sheba 

Karolyn Waddington

Katherine Freeman

Sophie Leigh

 Katie Linacre

Sean Barbour

Shannon Grayson 

Elanor Hutton 

 Rochelle Fishburn

Liam Falcus 

Graduate Fashion Week aims to promote new talent within the fashion industry and bridge the gap between graduation and employment. It has launched the careers of successful designers such as Christopher Bailey MBE, Stella McCartney, Giles Deacon, Matthew Williamson and Julien Macdonald. It follows Northumbria’s successful Newcastle Fashion Show, which took place at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead last month.

Kristen Pickering, programme leader for Fashion at Northumbria University, said: “We are very impressed by the craftsmanship and creativity of this year’s students from all three programmes and extremely proud and excited to share their work. It has been very rewarding for teaching staff to witness final collections take shape with both the BALTIC and GFW exhibitions the perfect platform for the students to launch their careers. Both catwalk shows are closely watched by industry, bringing interest to our exhibition stand to view student portfolios. Graduates are very fortunate to have these opportunities for launching what we hope will be exciting career prospects."

The Northumbria University exhibition stand at Graduate Fashion Week

Kristen continued: “Over the last four years, the students have worked hard and shown dedication and commitment, developing key skills needed to succeed in this industry. The student’s efforts are already paying off, a large number of this year’s cohort have secured, or are at the interview stage, with high-profile brands across the fashion industry, nationally and internationally. We’ll be watching their careers with anticipation and fully expect our students to go onto great things.”

Northumbria’s award-winning Fashion BA (Hons) Fashion, Fashion Design and Marketing and Fashion Communication Programmes are renowned for the calibre of their ‘business-ready’ graduates and have a hugely impressive list of alumni. Graduates are employed internationally at global brands such as Tom Ford, Joseph, Barbour, Burberry, Richard Nichol, River Island, Top Shop, Next, Celine, Givenchy, Lanvin, Tommy Hilfiger, Abercrombie & Fitch, Old Navy  and Ralph Lauren.

To find out more about studying any of the Fashion courses at Northumbria, register for one of the University’s summer Open Days on Friday 30 June and Saturday 1 July at www.northumbria.ac.uk/openday