Manchester School of Art’s Hannah Wallace scooped the prestigious Gold
Award at Graduate Fashion Week, seeing off competition from hundreds of
aspiring fashion designers with her striking metallic sportswear
collection.

Her innovative menswear designs, which included extreme puffer styles,
impressed the panel of judges that this year included fashion designer
Julien Macdonald, renowned fashion journalist Hilary Alexander, fashion
blogger Susie Lau, and George vice president of product development and
design, Fiona Lambert.

In addition to being crowned the best collection in show, which earns
the menswear designer a 10,000 pound cash prize from sponsor George at Asda
to help launch her fashion career, the Manchester School of Art designer
collection was also named the most creative, as the 24-year-old also won
the Creative Catwalk Collection Award.

Commenting on her double win, Wallace said: “I’m completely overwhelmed
at winning these awards. It’s a dream come true and I am just so pleased
that all of the hard work has paid off. You dream about seeing your
collection on the catwalk and being able to show at Graduate Fashion Week,
with this result, is an incredible experience.”

Wallace follows in the footsteps of other prestigious Gold Award
winning alumni such as Stella McCartney, Julien MacDonald, Christopher
Bailey, and last year’s winner Grace Weller from Bath Spa University.

Fiona Lambert, from title sponsor George at Asda, added: “Every year,
Graduate Fashion Week astounds us. I have been incredibly impressed by the
creativity, level of detail and the workmanship. We chose Hannah Wallace as
the George Gold Award winner because her designs showcased such dexterity
of craftsmanship, which gave incredible silhouettes. Her collection is
unique and shows pattern cutting skills at their best.”

Manchester School of Art’s Hannah Wallace wins GFW Gold Award

There was also a triple win for Edinburgh College of Art’s Melissa
Villevieille for her creative ‘Fauve, Moi?’ collection. The womenswear
designer added the prestigious Womenswear Award and Catwalk Textiles Award
to her earlier win of the David Band Textiles Award.

While Ella Nisbett Nottingham Trent University went on to pick up the
Menswear Award and the Stuart Peters Visionary Knitwear Award.

Other winners at last night’s gala, which closed the annual four-day
event at the Truman Brewery in East London, included Hannah Sykes from
Manchester School of Art who won the Fashion Innovation Award for her
collection that featured rain reactive fabrics, Chloe Draper from
University of East London was presented with the Fashion Marketing Award,
while the University of Salford’s Jodie Cox won the Fashion Photography
Award.

There were additional wins for Ravensbourne’s Jasmine MacPhee who won
the Fashion New Media honour, while the Fashion Styling and Creative
Direction Award went to Izzy Whitley from the University of Salford, and
Chou-Yun-Ting from Shih Chien University scooped the Samsonite
International Catwalk Competition for her inspiring menswear designs.

Martyn Roberts, director of Graduate Fashion Week, commented: “Graduate
Fashion Week celebrates the industry’s newest designers, giving them a
platform to showcase their creativity, individuality and the opportunity to
introduce their talents to industry heavyweights and fashion fans. The
charity has helped thousands of graduates find employment over the past 24
years and we look forward to working with this new set of talented
designers to shape the future of fashion.”

Images: George Gold Award Winner, Hannah Wallace from Manchester School
of Art