Graduate Fashion Week 2025: Highlights from GFW
- Elyse Blackshaw
- Jun 18
- 4 min read
Blog by London Fashion Illustrator Elyse Blackshaw
What is Graduate Fashion Week?
I’ve been attending Graduate Fashion Week (GFW) since 2020 as a regular fashion illustration workshop host, and for the past three years, as a judge on the Fashion Illustration Award panel. But what exactly is GFW 2025?
GFW is a celebration of emerging fashion designers from universities across the UK, and even internationally! It's a space where creative innovation, boundary-pushing design, and bold storytelling take centre stage. With a schedule packed full of catwalk shows, live talks, exhibitions, and portfolio reviews, this year’s event was another truly unmissable experience.
More than just a fashion show, for the past 32 years Graduate Fashion Week 2025 has been a powerful platform that gives fashion school graduates real visibility and the chance to connect with recruiters, buyers, stylists, and media. It’s the place where new talent is discovered and the future of fashion begins to take shape... and it really does! At this year's industry breakfast, I met past graduates who had returned to GFW to showcase their own creative businesses such as Estelle Henry, founder of IRIE Studio. Did you know Christopher Bailey MBE was GFW's first ever winner of the Gold Award?
Highlights from GFW 2025
One of my standout moments from GFW 2025 was seeing shortlisted fashion illustrators' work come alive on the catwalk. The transition from page to runway was fantastic!
Tala Lulu, a Palestinian fashion student from BA Fashion at Coventry University, was a complete show stopper. Her final collection was a powerful protest piece calling to Free Palestine, weaving together cultural symbolism and political commentary. She used materials like tents to construct silhouettes, referencing national identity, resilience, and the Palestinian right of return through visual motifs like the key and the poppy. This was fashion with purpose and it was truly unforgettable. Tala shared an extensive portfolio for her interview for the Fashion Illustration Award and had an incredible amount of drawn and collaged design development work that led to her final outcomes.
Top Graduate Fashion Illustrators to Watch
Emma Tsilele Basso-M'Timkulu – Winner of the Fashion Illustration Award 2025, representing Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts. Her work tackled everything from sustainability to youth mental health and politics, all expressed through exquisite technique and fearless creativity. Her presentation was engaging, energetic, and inspiring.
You may be wondering, so what did Emma do to win the award? Emma's work when beyond drawings on paper. Emma had an extensive, tactile portfolio of collages, design sketches and fashion illustration development. She has a clear identity and demonstrated that fashion drawing was a living and breathing part of her creative practice. However, Emma took fashion illustration beyond the figure and beyond paper. She created her own universe that even included digital, interactive games. Whilst on the surface the work is fun and playful, the concept reflected on: aspects of our consumer society, had a nod to political issues, and channeled feelings of a generation rebelling against hyper-sexuality and embracing kidcore.
Lydia Ward - A very close Runner-up representing Arts University Bournemouth with a beautiful body of work that celebrated disabilities, particularly hyper-mobility and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Her illustrations were glamorous, sensitive, and empowering. The kind of fashion storytelling we need more of. Lydia's passion for illustration and flair for drawing was so evident! From pencil sketches to mixed-media, Lydia was able to visually communicate her ideas with gorgeous expressive lines. The whole panel was captivated!
A huge congratulations to all 12 shortlisted students. Your presentations were deeply personal, technically brilliant, and politically powerful. You’ve proved that fashion illustration isn't just about aesthetics... it's a vital medium for expression, activism, and change!
Fashion Trends from Student Collections
While GFW is known for innovation, this year’s student collections leaned into authentic storytelling, cultural identity, and sustainable materials.
We saw:
samples and garments made from up-cycled materials
Illustration-led design and textile prints
A rise in modular fashion for adaptive wear
Bold uses of colour and texture to depict social and political themes
These aren’t just trends... they’re reflections of what matters to young creatives today.
Why GFW Matters in the Industry
Graduate Fashion Week 2025 isn’t just an event, it’s a cultural pulse-check for the fashion industry’s future. It spotlights the designers who are challenging norms, telling real stories, and asking important questions. And for us in the industry, it’s a vital space to give back, offer guidance, and champion the next wave of talent.
I always leave GFW feeling inspired, grounded, and grateful to be part of a creative community that supports fresh voices and bold ideas. This is where tomorrow’s icons begin, and the energy is infectious!
Want to know what I was looking for? Check out my previous blog post: Applying to Graduate Fashion Week Fashion Illustration Award 2025? Here's what you should know.
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