World Skills UK

Some photo's from last years World Skills Uk competition.

The brief was: 'Truly British, Re-thought classics with an ironic twist''

The task was to design a white shirt, from white cotton, & tartan, which had to have a dramatic collar & cuffs, I had to include pin-tucks, a ruffle & buttons on there somewhere, and seams had to be french seams.

I had to first produce a sketchbook of research & design work, taking inspiration fromVivienne Westwood & her punk days, the Viktor & Rolf A/W-04 collection especially for its oversized cuffs & collars, & Madeleine vionnet, who was famous for cutting on the bias, which I did with the collar etc to get a better shape. The muse was Tilda Swinton, considered graceful, a heroine, eccentric & quintessentially English they said.

My sketchbook was then submitted, & I got through to the final 20, who got to go down to newcastle University to compete in cutting the pattern & producing the toile of our chosen shirt design, in 2 days, stressful I'm telling you, but one of the best experiences of my life, meeting new people with similar interests, free pizza & a pudding every night, and snacks throughout. We got to stay in a grand Marriot hotel too, butlers opening doors for you, we lived the life of luxury, eating fancy croissants for breakfast.

the judges were.............................

then to my disbelief i got through to the final 10 who got to go back to make up the final garment, they were later shown at Graduate fashion week, went down with two college friends, it was such an ace day, saw Susie bubble, but couldnt' speak to her! I remember she was wearing white platform shoes & a wide brimmed hat, I was actually starstruck! Plus got to see some incredible work from Uni graduates, so impressive, loved it.

Rosie Huntington Whiteley & Pixie Geldof were there appaz, my dad came down on his motorbike & saw someone followed by photographers walking in, but of course he didn't have a clue who it was...