The Costume Society announces finalists for Patterns of Fashion, Patterns for Performance awards

UK charity The Costume Society, which aims to promote the study and preservation of historic and contemporary dress, has announced the finalists for this year’s edition of its two annual and international student awards: the Patterns of Fashion and Patterns for Performance awards 2024.

The finalists for the Patterns for Fashion Award 2024 are Amber Archer, a student at the Wimbledon College of Arts, UAL, student Danielle Dulchinos from Carnegie Mellon University in the US, and Abigail Johnstone, also a student at Wimbledon College of Arts, UAL.

This year’s finalists’ shortlist for the Patterns for Performance includes: Olivia Gallamore, a student at the University of Salford, Manchester, and from the Wimbledon College of Arts, UAL: students Alli Hepper and Kaiqi Zhang.

The Patterns of Fashion Award is a design competition open to students following a course programme related to costume and fashion-related education courses that involve the design and realisation of costume.

With the award, The Costume Society honours the work of the dress historian Janet Arnold (1932-1998), a founder member of the Society.

Students are asked to choose a historical period and must then produce a garment that best suits their chosen period.

The winner of the Patterns for Fashion award will receive a sum of 500 pounds, with 300 pounds for the highly commended, and 200 pounds for the runner up.

As for the Patterns for Performance Award, launched by The Costume Society in 2019,, students must design a period garment for a character in a performance.

The winner of the award will receive 800 pounds in prize money. The highly commended finalist will receive 500 pounds, and the runner up a sum of 200 pounds.