GFW Winners Announced

A student of the Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication snagged the top prize at the Graduate Fashion Week Gala Awards last night.

Jessica Au won the River Island Gold Award and the title GFW Designer of the Year, as well as £20,000. On top of that, she also won the Zandra Rhodes Catwalk Textiles Award at the event, which was attended by big fashion names such as Henry Holland, Agyness Deyn, Gareth Pugh and Jens Laugesen.

What made Jessica stand out from the rest is her menswear collection of Teddy Bot inspired silhouettes, printed with graphic, almost tropical prints. The collection impressed the panel of judges, which included supermodel Claudia Schiffer, designer Julien Macdonald, Richard Bradbury of sponsor River Island and Lorraine Candy, editor-in-chief of Elle.

Other winners included Nabil El Nayal, from Manchester School of Art who went home with the Womenswear designer of the year prize; Domingo Rodriguez of Liverpool John Moores University who copped the Menswear Award and Sarah Kennedy from Northumbria University, who was awarded the Mulberry Accessories Award.

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