Dress to impress... :: Wessex Scene Online

Dress to impress...

3rd June 2006
Laura Fewell

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Jun 06 - News in Brief
May 06 - Students Unite: SALSA together!
Mar 06 - Bi-Polar help group launching
Feb 06 - Surge goes FM: tune in or flick off
Jan 06 - Ł24k Challenge

A number of students from the Winchester School of Art have been selected to take part in the prestigious Graduate Fashion Week 2006 following the success of their peers in the 2005 exhibition. Last year saw the launch of the River Island Gold Award of Ł20,000, a significant prize for Graduate fashion efforts, another of which will be awarded at this year’s event.

Graduate Fashion Week 2006, which runs from Sunday 4 to Wednesday 7 June, at Battersea Park in London, promises to be even more exciting as it is also celebrating 15 years of British talent in the fashion world. Showcasing the very best from the UK’s premier fashion and design institutions, it will feature four days of spectacular catwalk shows and exhibitions where the country’s most innovative young designers can show off their creations and mingle with fashion company head honchos, including top recruiters, Smith & Pye.

Last year, Winchester School of Art’s Alexa Davies scooped the award for Best Use of Colour with her striking use of bold blues, and this year’s students are optimistic that they will bring awards home to Winchester by the end of the week. Lydia Crook, a third year Fashion student who is one of the few to be selected to wow the audience with her designs on the catwalk, told the Wessex Scene "the selection process is very scary. The [catwalk] show can only have a certain amount showing … and there were a lot of people who didn’t get in, but everybody on the course can exhibit on the stand." Lucy Hunter, also studying Fashion, echoed her sentiments and explained how much the opportunity means to WSA students: "the chance to show our work on a London catwalk has been something that most of us have been working for and aspiring to for the whole course."

Both girls plan to move to London following graduation and work in the fashion industry before taking Masters degrees in Fashion.