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UEL designers a runway success at Graduate Fashion Week

Tuesday 9 June 2009

Graduate Fashion Week 2009

The work of talented final year Fashion Design students at the University of East London (UEL) has been wowing media critics and industry insiders alike at Graduate Fashion Week, held at Earls Court this week.

The UEL runway show was the climax of the opening day, Sunday 7 June, and the fifteen collections displayed a diversity of cut and colour. Garments created by Lucy Bryan, Ayroza Dobson and Katie Huxley were singled out for praise in a feature in Monday's Evening Standard.

A packed audience of talent scouts, photographers, journalists and buyers joined the students' families, tutors and friends, for the show, themed around the concept of air travel – and the students’ careers are now set to take off.

"This has been a real triumph – a stunning show with a wonderful variety of collections."

Lucy Bryan created classic black gowns with laser-cut leather feathers, including an extraordinary egg-shaped sculpted feathered gown complete with lemon leggings for her collection entitled ‘Revenge of the Birds’.

Lucy, who completed placements at Ralph Lauren and BAA as part of her BA (Hons) Fashion Design with Marketing degree at UEL, said: “I was thrilled to be selected to close the show - I was inspired by swans and ravens, and combined traditional cording corsetry techniques with computer-aided design and laser cutting.”

Ayroza Dobson created colourful cartoon prints and 80s retro badge-dresses, as well as a glittering golden and black trouser suit. Katie Huxley’s work, inspired by her placement with leading designer Luella Bartley, featured billowing grey and pink ruffles combined with latex and leather tops.

Fifteen UEL students were selected to take part in the show: Ayroza Dobson, Bhalvinder Chawla, Caelie Jones, Frances O’Leary, Jessica Ma, Katie Huxley, Kerry Hobbs, Linsey Roberts, Louise Rhodes, Lucy Bryan, Natasha Goff, Sam Hoy, Sarah Seaton-Burridge, Sevda Salih and Shireen Erfani-Shomaly.

Lucy Jones, Director of Fashion and Textiles at UEL’s School of Architecture and Visual Arts (AVA) said: "This has been a real triumph – a stunning show with a wonderful variety of collections. Our students have worked incredibly hard and it's great to see this hard work pay off – it shows once again the wealth of talent here at UEL!"

In previous years, UEL students have done well in the gala show. The university has excellent links in the fashion industry and students undertake placements with a range of designers and companies.

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Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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