A fourth-year student from ECA’s BA (Hons) Fashion programme has won the top prize of £3,000 in a competition set by the British Fashion Council, the British Library and fashion brand LABRUM London.
One of six finalists, Ealish Withington’s research-focused portfolio impressed the judging panel, which included LABRUM London’s Creative Director, Foday Dumbuya.
Fashion programme director Professor Mal James, who supported the students during their portfolio creation, said of the win:
“We are beyond thrilled and immensely proud of Ealish’s outstanding success in this competition. Her powerful approach to storytelling, paired with the exceptional dedication she poured into the project, deeply resonated with the Labrum brand, the British Fashion Council, and the British Library. Opportunities like this are invaluable, and the British Fashion Council’s commitment to providing students with industry connections through unique competitions like this, significantly enhances their career prospects and ongoing professional development.”
Aimed at final year BA and MA fashion students in the UK, the competition offered students special access to the British Library’s archives to research and propose a collection based on the brand’s brief.
Speaking of the win, Ealish said:
“When the winner was announced, I truly couldn’t believe it. Foday and the other panel members were each uniquely and deeply complementary of my work and what it meant, and hearing people speak so openly about its impact has been a gift.”
In response to LABRUM London’s brief looking at migration and the merging of western and non-western cultures in fashion, Ealish’s portfolio took inspiration from the historic travel journals held in the British Library’s archives.
Ealish said: “Creating my portfolio was a lot of fun. I have a process of research which emulates more of a scrapbooked collection of thoughts, which makes researching really fun and free. I got to adopt the imaginative persona of this traveller I had created, pretending as though I was the one visiting these places described in the historic travel journals, sharing and collating new materials and textures, and sending postcards home to report back the findings.”
Considering the impact of winning the award, Ealish said:
“The understanding, not only from my tutors, now, but from the panel of established and current industry creatives, that my work has value and is recognisably important enough to receive this coveted award has given me so much confidence in my abilities as a designer, and to keep pushing myself to share my creations.
“The £3,000 prize for winning the competition is going to be an immense contribution to the production of my graduate collection, which also revolves around the merging of literature and fibre arts with fashion.”
