The fusion of cutting edge design across jewellery and fashion in a visual first at IJL

Hilary Alexander OBE,  the new President of Graduate Fashion Foundation, the charity behind GFW, will introduce each collection and discuss their relevance to 2020 fashion trends, together with Katherine Ormerod who will present the next Spring/Summer’s hottest high street jewellery trends.

GFW is the leading international event for fashion graduates and is a showcase for the imagination and design innovation – shaping the way fashion works as well as looks.  The Graduate Fashion Foundation has, over the past 28 years, supported and guided more than 100,000 newly graduated and undergraduate students, many of whom have since become international stars such as Christopher Bailey, Julien Macdonald and Stella McCartney.

The six GFW graduates are alumni of the 2019 GFW event, whose collections will be showcased at IJL 2019, include GFW (Catwalk) Award winner Hannah Stote from Bath Spa University (Catwalk Knitwear Award) and Best Collection finalists Holly Bryant also from Bath Spa, Allison Ore, Zhixue Xie and Lingshan Fan graduates from Central Lancashire University, together with Laura Collins from Liverpool John Moore’s University.

This initiative perfectly mirrors the IJL Bright Young Gems programme, that showcases graduate jewellery design, now in its 15th year.  This IJL initiative selects gifted designers who are recent graduates or current students of jewellery schools in the UK and gives them a unique opportunity to exhibit their work at IJL as well as benefit from dedicated mentoring from jewellery experts before and during the event.

“This is a magnificent opportunity for six talented young graduates from the Graduate Fashion Week Gala Awards show, and the ideal manner in which to demonstrate the inspiring synergy between fashion and jewellery. The Graduate Fashion Foundation constantly seeks to promote its global impact, and collaborating with International Jewellery London, IJL, is an example of a perfect marriage,” 
said Hilary Alexander OBE, President of Graduate Fashion Foundation and Graduate Fashion Week.

IJL Event Director, Katie Morris, added:
“IJL is always at the interface of both heritage and cutting edge designs of tomorrow. We are delighted to be able to showcase the work of these gifted young designers, together for the first time with the latest jewellery trends – highlighting the close synergy between the fashion world and the essential role jewellery plays across it. This very special collaboration will undoubtedly inspire our visitors.  Innovation, design, beauty, skill and vision are all on the agenda.” 

The GFW Catwalk Show, which will be part of the daily IJL catwalk schedule throughout the show, will be followed at 3.30pm by a VIP reception for press, IJL and GFW guests, and members of the prestigious Walpole Group.