News: Talented fashion student wins her way to global final in China
Fashion student, Sarah Gotheridge, from Nottingham College, impressed industry judges at the national final of the SDC (Society of Dyers and Colourists) International Design Competition where she beat off stiff competition to be crowned the national winner.
Regional finalists from across the country joined Sarah, 45 from Mickleover, at the event held at the historic Merchant Adventurers’ Hall in York on the 10th May, which was attended by 150 guests from around the world. Sarah will now progress to the SDC global grand final in China later this year, competing against finalists from around the world.
The international Design Competition is SDC’s annual flagship contest, engaging with hundreds of students, universities and designers globally. This year’s theme was based on Colour and Nature.
Sarah, who is studying BA (Hons) Art & Design at the College’s City campus in the Lace Market, designed a full-length red carpet evening gown, featuring brightly coloured flowers, animals and insects, including chameleons, ladybirds, and a monkey.
She said:
My inspiration behind the design and why it’s so vivid and bright came about as I was researching the topic and found out a really interesting fact about chameleons. I always believed that they changed colour to adapt to their surroundings, when in actual fact they change colour according to their mood, so when they are excited they turn neon green!
“When you think about the colours of nature, you often think about quite muted colours, but actually nature is very often an explosion of colour and that’s what I wanted to capture in my piece. I absolutely love 1930’s design so I wanted to emulate the silhouette of this style; and for this I used a crepe material to give it a lovely flow and drape-like feel.
— Sarah Gotheridge
Commenting on her award win, she said:
I am absolutely thrilled to have won and still can’t quite believe it. I felt really proud to represent Nottingham College and the Midlands in the UK Final of the SDC contest. The standard of the finalists’ work was really high, so I was really surprised and honoured to win.
“It was a wonderful day in York, and I felt happy just to be there, so to be chosen to represent the UK at the international final is just absolutely amazing — I can’t wait to go to China. It’s all just so exciting and I couldn’t be happier!
— Sarah Gotheridge
Tracy Cochrane, Marketing Director at SDC, commented:
The SDC International Design Competition attracts hundreds of entries from fashion and design students around the world. In the UK we hold five regional heats, and it was great to welcome the finalists to our recent UK final. The standard of work was incredibly high, and we have a very worthy winner in Sarah Gotheridge.
“We look forward to seeing Sarah at the global grand final which takes place later this year in China, where she will be representing the UK, competing against the finalists from 13 other countries.
Tracy Cochrane — Marketing Director at SDC
Nottingham College Art & Design BA (Hons) Course Leader, Liz Libor, accompanied Sarah to the final in York. She said:
I was absolutely delighted to witness Sarah’s triumph and to see her work and talent applauded by judges and industry representatives alike. It was heart-warming to see that all Sarah’s hard work and determination had paid off, and that leading figures in the field of textiles and printing were heaping praise upon her creative designs and predicting a bright future for her moving forward in the industry. We are so proud of Sarah and of the example she offers to other students — work hard, nurture your talent and believe that all opportunities can lie open to you regardless of your background, age, ethnicity or gender, if you have the self-belief and determination to succeed.
Liz Libor — Nottingham College Art & Design BA (Hons) Course Leader
Photograph courtesy of Dean Smith.
If you'd like to see some of our students' work for yourself, you can now buy tickets for our End of Year Fashion Catwalk Shows 2019.
Published on:
- 17th May 2019 (2:17 PM)
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