Until 1991 there was no comprehensive catwalk schedule amongst the UK’s leading
fashion colleges. Shows took place over four weeks across the country with no synergy
or focal point.
Realising that there was a real need for change, a number of college
heads approached various people within the fashion industry for their help.
Four
people took up the challenge – Jeff Banks CBE, Caryn Franklin, Vanessa Denza MBE and John
Walford. Unequivocally they offered their professional support and commitment to
fashion education, and together hatched a plan to create an event with a static
exhibition and professional catwalk, which would enable the colleges to participate
on an equal basis.
During the eighties an annual event known as the Smirnoff UK
Fashion Awards had been staged. Approaches were made to the organisers, and as a
result the very first Smirnoff Student Fashion Week was held in June 1991 at the
Business Design Centre in Islington.
Fortuitously at that time Jeff Banks and Caryn
Franklin were co-hosts of the BBC Clothes Show programme. As a result of the Clothes
Show devoting an entire pro-gramme to Student Fashion Week, credibility for the
event became instant.
By 1992 the event had changed its name to “The Graduate Fashion
Week” and had found a new sponsor – the Health Education Authority. The static exhibition
had increased in size to accommodate not only marketing based colleges, but also
the fashion promotion and illustration courses.
However in 1993 Graduate Fashion Week was once again without a sponsor and it was
left to the colleges and universities to fund the event themselves. An impossibility
without the support of Andrew Morris, then Managing Director of the Business Design
Centre in Islington. The event remained at the Business Design Centre for the next few years.
Eventually the event moved to the South Bank and then to Planet 2000 on Shoreditch
High Street.
It was clear to all involved that even with support from a friendly
venue owner, for the event to be staged in any credible way at all it continued
to need additional sponsorship. Whilst the participating colleges contributed towards
the costs of their stands and individual catwalk shows, these were by necessity
very heavily subsidised.
In order to help in the general cost effectiveness of the
event, Graduate Fashion Week became registered as an educational charity in 1994.
It is completely non-profit making and all costs are met from sponsorship, ticket sales and stand revenue. In the
following years the event attracted title sponsorship from Esprit, BHS, Topshop
for four years, and most recently high street giant River Island, now in their 6th year.
Over the years
Graduate Fashion Week has launched the careers of such brilliant British designers
such as, Stella McCartney, Julian MacDonald, Antonio Baradi, Hussein Cha-layan, Christopher
Bailey, Stuart Vevers and Owen Gaster.
Graduate Fashion Week is where it all begins.
There is no disputing that we have the most amazing design talent in this country!