Graduate Fashion Week 2024 Childrenswear award winner Jasmin secures dream role

When selecting the right university, Jasmin had an interview with the BA (Hons) Textile Design course leader, “she was very friendly and made me feel supported even before I started the course.”

Jasmin embraced every opportunity during her university journey, from working on live briefs with top employers to field trips abroad and competition wins. These experiences played a crucial role in her securing her dream position upon graduation, marking the start of an exciting new chapter in her career.

International research opportunities

Research trips, both within the UK and internationally, are a fundamental part of developing inspiration for projects. Jasmin participated in trips to Harrogate, Blackburn, and London throughout her time on the course. Additionally, during her second and third years, she went on two trips in Europe with her course mates, including a visit to Copenhagen, Denmark, in her second year. Jasmin said, “The beautiful buildings and lovely homeware shops were very inspiring and helped my research into many projects after the trip.”

In her third year, Jasmin visited Lisbon, Portugal. She said, “We got to experience so much of Lisbon's culture and amazing museums that were very inspirational. I loved the MAAT Museum that was filled by the amazing work of Joana Vasconcelos. There was a gigantic exhibition that was all hand made by textile artists from around the world, it featured lots of textile techniques and was lovely to hear about the meaning and references to Portugal's vivid culture from the guided tour.”

Live project briefs set by design industry professionals

Our Textile Design course emphasises employability, with a strong network of industry partners who set live project briefs. These projects help students develop professional skills, gain industry insights, and enhance their portfolios.

Happy Linen, a bedding company, set a brief to design a children's bed set as part of one of Jasmin’s second-year modules. Impressed by Jasmin’s designs, Happy Linen awarded her joint first place, offered her a two-week placement, and purchased the rights to her design for future use on their bedding. Jasmin said, “During my placement I learnt about how the company operates their sales, social media, and creative designs. I got to help make some social media posts with them and the designers looked over my design and gave me pointers on how to make my design more industry standard, which was very helpful going into third year.”

In Jasmin’s third year, the class were given a live brief by Cosatto, a brand specialising in pushchairs, highchairs, and car seats. The brief was to design a unique pram for their brand. Inspired by Lisbon tiles, Jasmin created a pram with a modern twist. “You could say that the Lisbon trip provided a lot of inspiration and influenced my projects”, Jasmin reflects. Jasmin won this brief as well, earning a placement with Cosatto.

Award wins

At Graduate Fashion Week 2024, Jasmin won the top prize in the Childrenswear category. Jasmin impressed judges from JoJo Maman Bébé, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s TU and Vogue childrenswear with her range of gender-neutral camping inspired outfits and accessories for youngsters. Her collection comprised three sweatshirts, two waterproof dungarees, two jogging bottoms, three t-shirts with detachable embroidered badges, two drawstring bags, a knitted hat, a sleeping bag and a pair of wellington boots.

“It was such a shock to hear my name read out. I had this overwhelming feeling of pride come over me as I’ve dreamed of going to Graduate Fashion Week since I was 13 so to win it was just crazy.”

Following this award win, Jasmin won the first prize in the Bradford Textile Society, ‘Cotton Industry War Memorial Trust (CIWMT) Award for Children’s Print’ she won £500 and industry career guidance.

Networking events

Students have the opportunity to learn from the best in the business during their studies, through regular networking events.

The annual innovative Careers Jamming Session (cJAM) is an event hosted on campus where students can pitch to win work placements across the creative industries. After pitching all day, Jasmin secured a placement with Cosatto along with a portfolio review and factory tour from Standfast & Barracks. Jasmin says, “These opportunities will be great for my CV and for future experiences in my field.”

The Fashion Stories event offers another chance to connect with industry experts and successful alumni who share their stories, journeys, and experiences in the fashion and lifestyle industries. “It was very inspirational, talking about how their career has progressed and advice on how we can progress as up and coming artists in the industry. Some from this year that were inspiring for me were Alice Blackstock who is an Irish Textile Artist, and Amy Molyneaux who is a fashion designer based in London that studied fashion design here at UCLan and that has gone onto work with people like Amy Winehouse and Fred Perry.”

Facilities

Students have access to a wide range of state-of-the-art facilities at the university.

“The facilities at UCLan have always been amazing. The Print Room has everything we need to create designs and artwork, the technicians are so lovely and can help us with everything we need or queries we have to make art to the best we can. The digital print studio is also great for our fabric printing, laser cutting and digital embroidery. All equipment is free to use which is amazing (especially when we use it so often), we do pay for material costs like the fabric we print on and extra materials, but the facilities are great especially with all the technicians that are happy to help.”