Graduate Fashion Week gala sees cardboard coats, shin pad sleeves and built-in iPads as students capitalise on their creativity

The fashion week showcase saw some 1,500 students vie for the attention of the industry
1/61
Emma McCarthy8 June 2017

Shin pad sleeve coats, trousers made of plastic bags and ball gowns with built in iPads - it can only be Graduate Fashion Week.

At a blockbuster showcase, which provided a spectacular finale to the four-day extravaganza at East London's Truman Brewery, designs spanned the ridiculous to the sublime during an event which saw some 1,500 students from 68 universities vie for the attention of the industry.

Of the 25 selected students who unveiled their collections on the catwalk last night Halina North came out on top, scooping the coveted Christopher Bailey Gold Award for collection of the year with her innovative line of dresses and coats which were moulded from cardboard.

The Edinburgh College of Art student, who also took home the Trailblazer Award, was praised by a panel of judges which included designers Sadie Frost and Holly Fulton for her ability to "look beyond the normal confines of how we define fashion".

Graduate Fashion Week 2017 Gala - the winners

1/20

Fellow Edinburgh College of Art graduate Maddie Williams claimed the Catwalk Textiles Award for her show-stopping collection which was handwoven entirely from plastic bags.

Her designs included super-wide leg trousers trimmed with shredded strips and high-shine puffer jackets stuffed with the material.

Among the winners were Irene D'Antonio, who bagged the M&S Womenswear Award for her colourful collection of ornate floral-print kimono jackets and wrap trousers, and Debenhams Menswear Award winner Daniel Rynne from the Arts University Bournemouth, who delivered an artist-inspired line of paint splattered denim shirts and apron bibs stuffed with brushes.

Sarah Louise Frances from the University Of Salford incorporates an in-built iPad

Other star pupils were Visionary Knitwear Award winner Ruth Williams for her lattice leather and crochet creations and Bath Spa University Graduate Laura Capello, whose wearable take on monochrome body-con dresses and cropped evening jackets saw her claim the George Catwalk to Store Award.

Kasubika Chola from Kingston University also won praise from the audience for their innovative use of denim cast offs, creating coats and jackets from disused dungarees, which were presented alongside bags made from old rice sacks.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in