Outstanding fashion designer and industry names to address students at ASBCI conference ‘Make it Fashion’

Designer Maria Grachvogel; Jenny Holloway of Fashion Enter, Kate Hills of Make it British; Christopher Nieper of David Nieper; Maggie Stott of Warehouse; and Maxwell Logan of Agent Provocateur

The ASBCI is delighted to announce that British fashion designer Maria Grachvogel will be the keynote speaker at its student conference ‘Make it Fashion’ to be held on Wednesday 5th November at Nottingham Trent University.

Students from 15 ASBCI member colleges and universities across the UK have been invited to attend the conference to hear the realities of working in fashion from an outstanding line-up of fashion industry names. Joining Maria Grachvogel will be influential speakers from Make it British, Warehouse, Fashion Enter, Agent Provocateur and luxury womenswear label David Nieper. Together they will tackle the made in Britain theme and share their wealth of insider industry and career knowledge to inform and inspire student attendees.

Maria Grachvogel will open the conference with her keynote presentation ‘Establishing an International Brand’ from concept to design and beyond, and on a similar theme Jenny Holloway, founder and managing director of Fashion Enter will bring to light the highs and lows of creating a brand versus jobs in the industry with ‘To Be or Not to Be – Own Label!’ With UK manufacturing still a hot topic Kate Hills, founder of Make it British will enlighten students on ‘How to Successfully Work with UK Manufacturers’.

With a lack of skilled pattern cutters in the industry Maggie Stott, senior pattern cutter, at Warehouse Fashion aims to change the misconception of pattern cutting being an ‘unsexy’ skill with a presentation on ‘Design Realisation’. Offering practical advice on the ‘Role of Creative’ will be Maxwell Logan, head of art at Agent Provocateur with case study examples of how to shine in a demanding job. The final speaker of the day will be Christopher Nieper, managing director of David Nieper who will share his ‘Magic Ingredients’ for reinventing and relaunching a highly successful British designed and made brand.

The conference will also feature the presentation of awards to the winners of two ASBCI competitions that have been running throughout the last academic year. The Dissertation Prize sponsored by Marks & Spencer, and the recently launched Innovation Award sponsored by Lectra UK, will see finalists from member colleges and universities being awarded prizes on the day.