The critics loved us!

Fashion Capital, one of the UK’s leading fashion portals, said: “A city notorious for its cosmopolitan style, the University of Brighton elevated and exceeded design expectations with a show that produced the highest creativity, quality and craftsmanship from twenty talented fashion design graduates.”

Fashion with Business Studies BA(Hons) graduates James Parker and Jazz Read were nominated for the Graduate Fashion Week New Business Award and Ryan Brockbank was chosen to show his menswear collection at the prestigious Gala Awards Show. He was shortlisted for an award.

Ryan said: “It was amazing to be selected for the Gala show. The entire week was really eventful – on the morning of the catwalk Graduate Fashion Show in Brighton my fiancé Emma gave birth to a baby girl, Rose. This meant I couldn’t go to the Brighton show but watched it on the live stream.

“To then get the phone call later that night to say I was selected for the best 25 of Graduate Fashion Week was incredible. It was a privilege to part of the Gala and to be an ambassador for the University of Brighton.

“My course has been fantastic and as a mature student I was treated as an equal by staff and peers, irrespective of age. The support of the tutors has got me through it, especially the final year, where plans for the baby and work commitments (I work with Gresham Blake) meant that every minute spent on the collection mattered.

“I’m really looking forward to the next steps and hopefully new ventures off the back of Graduate Fashion Week.”

In addition, Samantha Snow (Fashion with Business Studies BA(Hons) and Sally Holditch (Textiles with Business Studies BA(Hons) were nominated for the David Band textiles award.

The university’s stand at Graduate Fashion Week also received accolades – winning the runner up title.

Graduate Fashion Week is the largest platform in the world for new BA fashion talent, highlighting the freshest upcoming stars in design, creative direction, marketing, communication, photography, illustration and all aspects of the modern business of fashion.

This year’s graduating students are following in the footsteps of many of our alumni who have forged successful careers within the fashion and textiles industries. Some have achieved global recognition through their own companies and design labels, including, Emma Cook, Fred Butler, Marchesa, Eley Kishimoto, Shona Heath, Ong-Oaj Pairam, and Julien Macdonald OBE.

In Fashion and Textiles at Brighton, we offer you all the experience you need to enter the business of fashion, whether starting your own company, in collaboration with contemporaries, learning about sustainability or working as part of a team within international fashion brands and design houses.