GCU Fashion graduate wins national award

Conor Blessing
Conor Blessing with the award at V&A Dundee

A student designer who contributed to GCU Fashion Showcase 2022 has won a national competition.

Conor Blessing picked up The Fashion for Social Change award, sponsored by Shelter Scotland and Scotland Re:Design, after impressing judges with an outfit inspired by social justice.

Independent artists and designers were encouraged to create sustainable pieces that reflected the theme of housing activism.

Eight shortlisted designs featured in the opening runway show at the Scottish Fashion Festival at the V&A Dundee this week.

Conor, who studied BA International Fashion Business at GCU and graduated this summer, said: "When I was doing my research, I read there are 43,000 homes that have been abandoned and are not lived in.

"It made me think about fast fashion and how things are worn once and thrown away. Homes have become a commodity, like clothes.

"I wanted to make an outfit that incorporated upcycling and ideas around repairing. All the material was salvaged from charity shop donations."

He added: "The course at GCU has helped me find my niche. It's given me a starting point of where I want to be design-wise."