Winners across accessories, illustration and more announced at GFW opening events

Amid the buzz of the already commenced menswear season, Graduate Fashion Week (GFW) has also entered the race with its first shows and events for its now 33rd edition.

The occasion kicked off with an awards ceremony on June 10, where winners across eight categories, including Accessories, Fashion Illustration and Fashion Innovation, were announced to by Graduate Fashion Foundation ambassador, Isabella Silvers.

Holly Evans of the Arts University Bournemouth was selected for the Fashion Illustrator Award, while Stephanie Daley from Nottingham Trent University received the Accessories Award supported by YKK.

The Dame Zandra Rhodes Fashion Textiles Award was given to Nottingham Trent University knitwear designer Aiden Davey, who said his work explored the harm smoking does with a line designed to instead encourage young people to feel socially confident.

Other winners included Mahalia Ellis from Birmingham City University, who won the Face Excellence Prize; Nova Hammon-Hagan of University of the West England, the recipient of the Culture and Heritage Award in Design; akin to the award received by Kingston University’s Guessie O’Connor, albeit for Non-Design; and Charlotte Butler, from Birmingham City University, who won the New Business Award.

De Montfort University graduate Kira Uddin, meanwhile, was the recipient of the Fashion Innovation Award, an accolade that recognised her pursuit of creation in the menswear sector, in particular her final collection titled ‘Fake It Till You Make It’, through which she exhibited varying iterations of the ‘London Man’.

There were also winners announced from different institutions. These included Vanessa Amofa Baah of Birmingham City University; Shaojing Zhu of University of Derby; Mai Le Lan Y of Liverpool John Moores University; Charlotte Makinson of Sheffield Hallam University; and Bridget Calthrop of Nottingham Trent University.

A selection of looks from these winners are set to be featured at the upcoming ‘Best of GFW24’ event on June 13, where an overall Gold, Silver and Bronze Catwalk Award winner will be announced.

The final shows to take place last night were part of Kornit Digital Catwalk, which presented its own series of competition winners. The Gold Award went to Alfie Stevens, Natasha Owen took home the Silver Award and Rosie Brown, the Bronze Award.