‘Best of British’ was the theme that inspired the fashion design and textile students at the University of Derby taking part in this year’s prestigious David Nieper scholarship.
Emily Webb took first prize in the textile design category and Hannah Coles was awarded first prize in fashion design. Fellow students Jessica Midgley, Emma Giles and Kate Myerscough were all presented with runner-up places.
Over 100 students competed in the David Nieper scholarship which is an annual award currently in its 5th year, open exclusively to 2nd year BA textiles and BA fashion design students. The prize money on the evening totaled £1600 towards financial support for the student’s final year of study.
As part of their mandatory portfolio project, students were briefed to create a sample collection of four garments one each for nightwear, evening wear, day wear and travel wear designed specifically for the older woman, a market often forgotten by the high street.
This year students were asked to base their collections on British location and culture. The brief which really captured their imagination and inspired some fantastic design work based on iconic British locations from Yorkshire to Brighton, Edinburgh and Bath.
Winner of the textiles category Emily Webb created a spectacular collection, drawing inspiration from the traditional English seaside destination of Brighton, capturing the bright colours of the pretty beach huts and hues of the scenic South coast.
Emily commented:
“I am thrilled with my award, the competition was tough in our year and I have enjoyed the whole experience. The brief allowed us to be really creative and I based my designs on a typical British summer’s days at the seaside and created two hand printed fabrics, one digital and one knitted design.
This has been the first time I have designed with a customer in mind, which has been a new experience for me and given me a more commercial slant on my work. I have really enjoyed the work experience period in the David Nieper design studios and have learned so much. A massive thank you to the team!”
Christopher Nieper, Managing Director of David Nieper commented:
“We were very impressed by the outstanding talent demonstrated this year; however Emily and Hannah’s entries really stood out. This was a challenging brief to students who were asked to consider the entire design process with special attention to colour palette, fabric, and silhouette. Both Hannah and Emily demonstrated exceptional creativity and technical ability. Congratulations to them both!”
At David Nieper we value the ongoing relationship we have with the University of Derby which every year goes from strength to strength, we have been delighted to be able to offer employment to several of their talented graduates over the past few years who have gone on to become valued members of our team.”
Colin Thompson, Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Fashion at the University of Derby, said:
“The quality of work produced by our fashion and textile design students this year has been exceptional and our showcase is stronger than ever before.
“The graduate fashion show is a significant example of where the University is offering real-world experience to its students. Seeing their work on the catwalk, worn by professional models, is an amazing feeling for our students and a real celebration of their success.
“The collections this year are contemporary, high-quality and innovative and myself and the other lecturers are extremely proud of them all.”
For further information visit www.davidnieper.co.uk
-ENDS-
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Photograph From left to right…..Hannah Coles (BA Fashion), Emily Webb (BA Textiles), Emily Giles (BA Fashion) and Jessica Midgley (BA Textiles) then Christopher Nieper, Managing Director, David Nieper.
