The winner of the Persil Irish Fashion Award will receive €10,000 and the chance to have their winning design manufactured and sold in Dunnes Stores.
The brief was for the students to design a casual, machine washable and durable outfit for both mother and child. Take a look at the final designs here.
Find out more about finalist Andrew Bell below.
Andrew Bell: "Design has always fascinated me. Growing up I was obsessed with everything Victorian or Edwardian, and hours were spent drawing the impossibly intricate interiors and clothing of these eras. In small notebooks I made drawings for my ‘dream house’, a vast mansion communicated through detailed floor plans and illustrations of each room inside. While my brothers preferred to play with their Lego I would endlessly construct house after house until all of the Lego was gone.
"From an early age it was clear that I was going to design. At school my strongest subjects were Design Communication Graphics, Business studies and Art. I chose to study Fashion Design over Architecture because it allowed me to engage with every aspect of the creative process, from Research and Design development, right through to the construction of the final product. As a designer I respond directly to the making, and generate my ideas through the interaction of part garments and samples on the body. Through drawing the silhouette is refined and from these drawings the mood of the collection is formed.
"Thanks to my time at NCAD I am now proficient with CAD programs such as Indesign and Adobe Illustrator. Indesign is invaluable when it comes to laying and communicating my work , and illustrator is more than helpful when clarifying the finer details of each design, such as button placement and stitch lines.
"It is this attention to detail is these tiny decisions and that I find the most attractive aspect of the job as a Fashion Designer. The simpler the garment the more important these aspects become and as Irish Architect and Interior Designer Eileen Gray once stated ‘Simplicity does not always imply that something is simple’.
"Where my childhood years were spent admiring the complication of clothing from times gone by, I am now more engaged with the concept and creation of simple clothing executed to the same level of perfection. It was during my first internship at womenswear label Antipodium in London, that I developed this admiration for practical and beautiful clothing cut from quality cloth.
"More recently I have interned with Irish Designer J.W. Anderson who is also based in London. During my three months there I gained a valuable insight into the tough and fast paced side of the fashion industry. Long hours and hard work gave a valuable insight into the workings of a luxury brand at the cutting edge of the London Fashion scene. Following my graduation in September 2014 I plan on working in Ireland and saving towards moving to London. I would like to gain industry experience there, designing commercially for a large commercial company while saving for a Masters, which I would ideally undertake at the Royal College of Art in London."
Take a look at Andrew's entry below.
