Award win at Graduate Fashion Week

Textiles student Sarah Burton, from Middlesbrough, beat students from 52 universities and colleges to scoop the Pringle of Scotland Visionary Knitwear Award at this year’s Graduate Fashion Week.

Sarah’s stunning creations were selected for the Gala Show - the highly anticipated finale to the four-day annual event - from 350 catwalk shows and nominated for the Gold Award, the £20,000 top prize at Graduate Fashion Week.

‘Charming’ knitwear

22-year-old Sarah impressed judges – which included designers Matthew Williamson and Giles Deacon and Elle magazine editor Lorraine Candy – with her collection of tassled and fringed mini dresses, tops and hot pants in shades of indigo and red.

Claire Waight Keller, Creative Director of Pringle of Scotland, said: “Sarah was chosen because she has an outstanding degree of creativity and workmanship. Her attention to detail, silhouette and technical capabilities were excellent and very directional.”

Sarah says: “My collection began with experimentation and sampling relating to ropes and knotting, investigating how they could be integrated into fabrics. It developed into a fascination for discovering innovative ways of incorporating these features into my knitting, employing techniques such as plaiting and fringing.

“I’m passionate about discovering new things within knitting and the technical and design skills that I have developed during my degree have prepared me well for a job within knitwear design.”

Nominations for Textiles and Innovation

Only the best fashion students are selected to show at Graduate Fashion Week, which attracts journalists and fashion scouts from across the globe and has launched the careers of John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney.

MMU has always had a strong and successful presence at the event, last year taking the Womenswear, Creative Cutting and Innovation Awards.

This summer the work of 20 MMU fashion students hit the catwalk at Earls Court with Fashion student Ashley Farrell, 22, from Stoke-on-Trent, and Textile Design for Fashion student Lauren Bowker, 23, from Lancashire, nominated for the Zandra Rhodes Catwalk Textiles Award and Innovation Award respectively.

Guests at the Gala Show included models Erin O’Connor and Amber le Bon, Emma Hill (Creative Director, Mulberry), Jeff Banks (President, Graduate Fashion Week) and Sir Harold Tillman (Chairman, British Fashion Council).