From Chichester College to Catwalk: Student Sews Seeds of National Success
Fashion and Textiles student Bethan Slatter will soon be strutting the catwalk at the NEC in Birmingham after being selected for the Fashion and Embroidery Show.
The show is part of this year’s Schools Fashion Design Competition, run by the Creative Craft Show. It tasked young art, design, and textile students aged 13 to 18 with designing a sustainable black-and-white garment using repurposed charity-shop materials.
Bethan was selected as one of just ten young people to show her final design on the catwalk at the finals in March. This was alongside three classmates, whose work was ‘highly commended’, and will see their work put on display as part of an exhibit at the show.
For the competition, those taking part had to submit three boards, involving research boards, their developmental designs, and then their final design to show on the catwalk.
Bethan, who also made the final of the competition last year, reused her aunt’s wedding dress for most of the fabric for her design. When asked about her design, she said:
“I used influences from the 40s and 50s black and white Hollywood era, specifically the femme fatale archetype…that was then tied into my greenwashing theme, which was what my work centred around.
“My final design was a bodice and two skirts, the bottom skirt had a variety of distressed elements, and the top one is a wrap to cover them to show how some businesses mask the damage they do to the environment.”
She also revealed what it was like to find out she had been selected to exhibit, saying:
“It was very unexpected, I kind of forgot about it over Christmas, it was so chaotic building up to the deadline…It was a really lovely surprise, and I’m really honoured to have been chosen, I was with my family when I found out, so that was really lovely.
“It wouldn’t have been possible to do any of the work I did without the support of Chichester College and Mel as I work 3 half days on campus instead of 2 and a half days as I struggle with social settings for prolonged periods of time.
“Having the flexibility and trust to work from home has been crucial in enabling me to deliver a high standard of work and I’m super grateful to the college for being so understanding.”
Melissa Kidd, Bethan’s tutor at the college, added:
“I think what’s great about Bethan is that she’s really fused so many ideas together to create a really unique outfit, and there’s lots of thought and intelligence behind what she’s done as well. There’s a reason for everything on that garment, and that’s what makes her stand out.”
To find out more about the Art, Design and Media courses on offer at the college, including Fashion and Textiles, please click here.