When a team of presenters were looking for swimwear to complete a Children in Need challenge, they knew just the people to ask – De Montfort University Leicester (DMU)’s Contour Fashion designers.
The BBC’s Ady Dayman, Summaya Mughal, Kevin Ncube, Helen McCarthy and Owynn Palmer-Atkin will be swimming 24 miles each over one week in five different pools across the county to raise money.
They will be joined by presenters across the country who between them will attempt to swim 1,000 miles across the UK.
They got in touch with DMU's Contour Fashion team asking if they would be able to create bespoke costumes for them to wear while completing the challenge.
This week Summaya and Helen came to DMU to be fitted by the team led by course leader Rachel Toner and meet designer Millie Fullalove who created swimsuits for them – and showed them a special Pudsey-inspired dotted print which will make sure they are ‘spotted’ in the pool.
“I feel fantastic in this, I feel like I can totally do the challenge in this costume,” said Summaya, presenter of award-winning podcast Brown Gal Can't Swim. “Thank you Contour team!”
Helen, who is an open water swimmer, added: “I’m feeling just so much more confident, this costume looks sleek it looks like I’m going to glide through the water. We can’t thank DMU enough.”
Contour Fashion course leader Rachel Toner said: “The team have come together to create a print and also pull the garments together in terms of pattern cutting and then ensuring the fit is perfect.
“This is a real Contour team effort.”
All five sent in their measurements, which the team of Rachel, Abbie Swinfield, Emma Rose, Julie Swinfield, and Millie Fullalove - used to put together a paper pattern and initial work, with students getting involved too. Technician Chris Ball printed the fabric with the designed dots.
“As soon as Rachel asked me about this project I was in,” said Millie. “Children in Need is such a fantastic cause and seeing it all come together is so exciting.”
Children in Need is the BBC’s UK charity for disadvantaged children and young people in the UK. Between 1980 and 2023, it has raised over £1 billion for them.
The Leicester team – who are being coached by the likes of Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington – will be starting their challenge on November 4, so plan to come back to DMU to pick up the final designs next week.
Posted on Thursday 24 October 2024