V&A Dundee launches annual fashion event ‘Scottish Fashion Now’

Scottish museum V&A Dundee is launching a four-day programme in September designed to celebrate the “distinct impact Scotland has on the global fashion industry,” called Scottish Fashion Now.

Designed to be an annual showcase for Scotland’s next generation of fashion designers, Scottish Fashion Now will transform V&A Dundee with a four-day programme of events, from September 3 to 6, featuring a catwalk show, talks, displays and workshops.

Opening the programme on September 3 will be the Scotland Fashion Now: Graduate Showcase '26, featuring selected graduate collections from Edinburgh College of Art, Glasgow School of Art, Gray’s School of Art and The Design School, Heriot-Watt University.

The hour-long catwalk show will feature 83 looks from 26 designers modelled by talent from Model Team and be followed by a networking reception supported by Mulberry, which recently appointed Scottish fashion designer Christopher Kane as its new creative director.

On September 4, V&A Dundee will present a Designer Panel in collaboration with British Fashion Council (BFC), as part of the organisation’s latest nationwide initiative, Fashion Britain, designed to decentralise fashion investment, opportunity and cultural participation beyond London.

V&A Dundee to champion Scottish design talent with new fashion event

Other events will be inspired by V&A Dundee’s current exhibition ‘Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show,’ exploring the variety of creative roles in the fashion industry, including a hair styling masterclass with an award-winning L’Oreal Professionnel stylist, a fashion communications workshop for emerging designers and founders with SALAD Communications and a talk on alternative careers in the fashion industry with Scotland’s LS Productions, the UK’s largest production service company.

There will also be an exclusive modelling open casting call with Model Team as they search for fashion’s new face in Scotland’s North-East and a panel discussion on runway representation led by the diversity campaign group, I Am More Than.

In addition, the programme will spotlight knitwear designs by graduates from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, part of the University of Dundee, to celebrate Dundee’s rich history of textile production and innovative knitwear practices.

Troy Nelson, creative programmer at V&A Dundee, said in a statement: "As Scotland’s design museum, we have the opportunity to bring both public and industry together to celebrate and platform the talent being developed and nurtured in Scotland.

"Scotland plays a distinct role in shaping the global fashion industry, often drawing on a creative identity that blends heritage craft and subversive tradition with an international outlook and a cultural drive to explore and invent. It’s an identity that’s inspired some of the world’s most beloved designers, and the industry continues to support our creative and financial economy in return.

"The level of enthusiasm from our industry partners and collaborators for this event has been so warming, especially in our launch year. Collectively we want to promote the breadth of skills that underpin the fashion industry, and the importance and impact of Scotland’s art schools in developing the next generation of talent.”

Scotland Fashion Now will sit alongside other Scottish initiatives in the fashion and textile sector, including Scotland Re:Design’s Scottish Fashion Festival, which is returning this year, and The Fife Arms Festival of Fashion in Braemar in November.