Student Showcase: March

It's been a while since our last blog entry as our girls have been busy "researching swimwear" in Miami, but we were ecstatic to return to an inbox crammed full of talented student's design work. Thank you for such a great response this month. Following the magazine coverage, that our Jan and Feb winners achieved (that's four fashion top mags), the heat is most certainly on!

We're very pleased to announce Loughborough University's Milly Grimes as our March winner.

This month we thought we'd sway a little off the mark in favour of some creative textile design. Milly is currently in her foundation year studying Fashion and Textiles at Loughborough Uni, but is already showing she's got the aptitude to produce unique and innovative designs, usually inspired by modern architecture, nature and her immediate surroundings.

In her spare time she rummages through car boot sales and markets, looking for anything inspirational. Her love of unique fabrics and textures is clearly demonstrated in her design work and the ways in which she bonds or manipulates unusual materials.

 

The designs pictured above are part of an entirely hand-stitched and embellished collection made from leather and industrial materials. With their Gaga-esque characteristics, we can definitely envisage the leather collection featuring in the likes of Dazed and Confused or iD magazine.

Milly has worked for the design team at Next and as an assistant stylist on various fashion shoots. Her favourite designers are Manish Arora and Iris Van Herpen and her ambition is to one day run her own fashion label. When asked why she chose to study fashion and textiles Milly said;

"I enjoy having the freedom to design whatever I like. Fashion holds no boundaries and the list of materials you can use to create a garment is endless. I also love the practical side of designing and creating a garment, as well as the satisfaction you get once it's finished and on a model."

Milly's work will be sent out to over 250 fashion journalists and bloggers and will feature in the If You Please March Newsletter. Well done Milly! 

View January's winner Jessica Preece here. 


For more information about our 2011 Student Showcase competition and to find out how you can enter, click here