A De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) student has won a prestigious national award for his knitwear designs inspired by his family’s hand-me-downs.
Fraser Miller wowed a panel of industry judges at Graduate Fashion Week (GFW) in London with his six looks based on clothes being passed down from older to younger siblings.
The final-year Fashion Design student beat off competition from more than 40 other universities to win the Innovative Knitwear Award at Europe’s biggest showcase for young designers.
Fraser saw his collections being modelled on the catwalk alongside the designs of 20 final-year DMU Fashion Design students.
The DMU catwalk show attracted a huge audience of close to 600 industry insiders, VIPs, London Fashionistas, media and students.
Welsh fashion designer Julien McDonald presented Fraser with his award at the Gala Show, the grand finale of Graduate Fashion Show, last night (Wednesday).
Fraser, who has nine siblings, called his collection ‘An Abundance of Kin’. His motivation came from looking through his family photo albums and noticing how certain items of clothing had become ‘inter-changeable’ among his brothers. It also interested him how some clothes also had sentimental value in his family.
Fraser, 25, said: “It feels amazing to have won; I couldn’t believe it when I heard my name.
“It felt a bit surreal at first, one minute I was showing my work on the catwalk then I was winning, but it’s now started to sink in.
“It’s a great achievement to win a top award, I’m ecstatic.”
Fraser received congratulatory phone calls from family members who had been watching the GFW livestream, then celebrated with a dinner with fellow DMU students.
He was interviewed by the panel of judges, which also gave him the opportunity to talk about his work and hand over his business card.
As part of his prize, he will also have the added benefit of working with and learning from a fashion industry mentor for the next two years.
Fraser said: “The show went so well and I was so proud to be part of it.
“I’m really hoping this award will open up some doors for me to work with some big designers.
“It’s my dream to become a head designer for a major design brand.”
Fraser has always been interested in fashion design as his mother worked as a seamstress. He said he grew up ‘working on different family projects’ such as making teddy bear clothes and designing T-shirts.
In his home city of Bristol, he said ‘his future career was confirmed’ when he studied Fashion Design at A-Level, then went on to do an Art & Design Foundation Course.
He said: “That was it; I realised I loved fashion design and I just knew it was the career for me.”
Fraser’s passion is knitwear as he loves the versatility of being able to work with different textures and shapes. He describes his knitwear style as ‘very clean and technical.’
This year’s Graduate Fashion Week proved to be a phenomenal success for DMU with a super slick catwalk show. Fraser’s collection was longlisted for the Gold Award alongside three other DMU students; Melissa Earl, Emma Hubbard and Farrah Highton.
It comes just a couple of years after DMU Fashion Design student Hazel Symons took home the Gold Award in 2016.
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Posted on Thursday 7 June 2018