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UEL student‘s designer dress sells out immediately it becomes available to buy

Friday 13 April 2012

Le Thuy with dress

When UEL graduate, Le Thuy Le Thi, collaborated with household fashion brand George to make an affordable version of her designer dress available through stores and online outlets she hadn’t realised quite how popular a design it was – the run of over 2000 dresses sold out almost immediately it went on sale.

Fashion graduate, Le Thuy Le Thi, first came to the attention of the fashion world after winning the Graduate Fashion Week ‘This Morning Viewers’ award, voted for by viewers of ITV’s flagship daytime show.

The winning dress, which comes from Le Thuy’s collection, 'Afternoon Tea', inspired by the classic imagery of an English afternoon tea and the ornate floral designs of Chinese pottery, won the online vote by a landslide according to the show’s producers. Le Thuy was greeted with rapturous applause by the 600 strong audience when the result was announced at Graduate Fashion Week’s Gala show, following the programme.

Earlier this month the simplified and highly-affordable knee-length diffusion version of that much-lauded dress became available to buy through George, retailing at just £18.

Le said: “I was very pleased with the resulting dress, George have done a fantastic job in making it look as original as my winning design. I still can’t believe how popular my dress became, even though I won last year people still remember my winning design.”

She said of the dress: “My inspiration came from design elements like the flowers and ornaments from Chinese potteries. I love English afternoon tea, but imagined using Chinese tea sets for it. I wanted to fuse them together in a way, which suggested a meeting of styles between the Orient and the West.” 

Catherine Harper, Dean of UEL’s School of Arts and Digital Industries, said: “We’re all delighted that Le’s talents as a fashion designer have been recognised in this way, it’s exciting to know that her hard work and creativity has been translated into a product which has proved so popular. I was one of the lucky ones who managed to order one of these dresses before they sold out.”

Womenswear designer at George, Amanda Wilkinson, said: “We are thrilled for Le Thuy and think the dress looks fantastic, and, having sold out so quickly our customers clearly think so, too."

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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