The Graduate Fashion Foundation (GFF) and ellesse have announced the winners of their Tailors Programme competition.  The winning designs will be showcased at the upcoming ‘Best Of’ Graduate Fashion Week 2024 show on the 13th of June.

THE WINNERS

Lucrezia Gaspa, from Accademia Costume & Moda, and Shaojing Zhu, from the  University of Derby, have been picked as joint first place winners.  Thomas Bradford, from UCA Epsom, secured third place. Each of their designs, inspired by the ellesse ‘SARTORIA’ range, demonstrated exceptional creativity and skill, as well as capturing the essence of the ellesse brand.

THE COMPETITION

ellesse invited final-year students to create a collection inspired by the brand’s iconic ‘SARTORIA’ range for their first collaboration with the GFF.

The design challenge asked students to dive into the ellesse archive and craft a 12-piece capsule collection for SS24 and AW24 collections. Using to the brand’s iconic elements – the chevron, the print, the jet stripe and the Rimini stripe – students were also tasked with integrating at least one tracksuit.

Jack Richardson, Senior Vice President for ellesse, says, “As we celebrate our 65th year, we’re delighted to partner with GFF and give students the opportunity to create designs inspired by our founding principles of tailoring technical products for the sports-minded consumer.”

THE PRIZE

As part of their prize, Lucrezia, Shaojing and Thomas will have the opportunity to work closely with the ellesse team and London factory, Fashion Enter, to bring their designs to life. Each winner will collaborate with the experts to produce two outfits from their collection.

Megan Doyle, Associate Director of the Graduate Fashion Foundation, says, “We’re thrilled to be working in partnership with ellesse on the Tailors Programme.  It gives the three winners a unique opportunity to make their designs a reality and see them on the catwalk at GFW24.”

 To find out more head to the ellesse website, follow them on Instagram and X.