Fashion graduates shortlisted for the first Global Design Graduate Show Awards

Dominic Huckbody, Edita Kelsey, Jessica Lamb, Polly Henderson, Molly Turner and Fennuala Butterfield, who all graduated from the Fashion Design BA Honours course in 2020, were selected for their excellence across womenswear, menswear, accessories and print. The graduates were selected by a panel of judges that included Heron Preston, Saul Nash, Sara Maino from Vogue Italia, Alastair McKimm at i-D magazine, Ger Tierney at Rapha and Steven Smith from Yeezy.

The Global Design Graduate Show 2020 is the first ever online showcase of the world’s leading emerging creatives and acts as a proactive response to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. Run by ARTSTHREAD and i-D, it has been ARTSTHREAD’s vision to support the next generation of creative talent by teaming up with Gucci and i-D on the show. 

The competition was open to all Art and Design students graduating in the 2019-20 academic year in any related created discipline, resulting in over 4,000 students from over 300 creative institutions submitting their final projects. A team of independent judges narrowed this down to the shortlisted creatives who are now on display on a new section of the ARTSTHREAD platform. Audiences will be able to view submissions and cast their votes until 14 September 2020.

Talking about the success of the graduates, Professor Andrew Groves, Professor of Fashion Design, said: “It’s incredibly exciting that so many of our Fashion graduates have been shortlisted for these awards by such an illustrious global panel of industry experts.

“Given that this is in recognition of work that they created during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown it is a testament to their exceptional talent, resilience and creativity; and I wish to congratulate them all for this outstanding achievement.”

Vote for your favourite designer on the Global Design Graduate Show website.