See Diversity’s Graduate Fashion Week Gala Show performance in full and watch their pre-show interview here!

Graduate Fashion Week drew to a close last night with the prestigious Gala Show taking place at Earl’s Court.
After dance troupe Diversity opened the show with a surprise performance, Gala Show host, Caryn Franklin, introduced the collections that were shortlisted for the night’s awards by the judging panel, which included Editor of ELLE, Lorraine Candy; Editor of GQ, Dylan Jones; and acclaimed designer, Alberta Ferretti.



De Montfort University’s Anna Lee took home the Zandra Rhodes Catwalk Textiles award for her vivid Chinese dragon and tiger-inspired printed dresses.

Catch all the action from Graduate Fashion Week's Gala Night...

Watch the film to go behind-the-scenes of day 3 at GFW, featuring a performance and interview with Tinie Tempah.

It’s Day 3 of Graduate Fashion Week and today we watched the final university shows before tomorrow’s Gala Show, where the best collections of the week will battle it out for the all-important awards, including the coveted River Island Gold Award which comes with a £20,000 prize.

First up on the final day was De Montfort University who put on a storming show, arguably the best of the week. Perspex, geometric collars, quilted cocoon jackets and shoulder-padded frames conjured up the idea of fashion as body armour.

Next up was Liverpool JMU where collections were predominantly made up of nude and earthy tones. We saw some great draping and flowing garments make their way down the catwalk.

Graduate Fashion Week visitors have been popping over to the stand all week to get styled the River way and have their pictures taken to win prizes!



Click here to view the gallery and vote for who you think is GFW's most stylish - the person with the most votes will win £150 in River Island vouchers!

Watch the highlights from Day 2 at GFW

Another day, another six fashion shows! Here’s your Runway Rundown for Day 2 of Graduate Fashion Week 2010…



Ravensbourne kicked off Monday’s proceedings. This uni is renowned for putting on a great show and has produced lots of GFW award winners in the past. With a commendable alumni and the added pressure of design royalty, Dame Vivienne Westwood, taking pride of place on the front row 2010s crop of new designers had a lot to live up to. Did they deliver? Of course they did. Beautifully structured pieces and well-executed collections made their way down the runway.

Next up Birmingham and Salisbury universities shared the catwalk under the watchful eye of Julien Macdonald who was sitting front row. Birmingham started the show with playful and tongue-in-cheek collections, drawing inspiration from a child’s toy box, blow up dolls and soldiers. Salisbury closed proceedings with a predominantly nature themed show. Woven hay, 3D florals and animal-ear hats featured as part of the students’ collections.

The International Show was third up and was packed out as the fashion elite all wanted to see what universities from Switzerland, Amsterdam, Singapore, Hamburg and St. Petersburg had to rival the British universities. Being from all over the world it’s hard to pick a key theme for the show as a whole, but there was definitely a great use of colour across the collections and lots of great structural pieces.

Northbrook and Salford followed the internationals with Northbrook showcasing some gorgeous Navajo prints and checks, and Salford’s students creating draped garments in silks and fine knits which looked amazing on the runway.

Kingston’s show was another big one for the day where the knitwear stole the show for us. From bodycon mohair dresses to retro sequinned mens romper suits, the knitwear on show at Kingston across the board was quite possibly the best we’ve seen so far this year.

Last up for Day 2 was UCA Rochester where we found last year’s River Island Gold Award winner, Myrto Stamou. Lots of neutral and Grecian-inspired pieces were created by this year’s graduates – perhaps they were following Myrto’s award-winning lead? 2010s graduates, however, added a much more futuristic feel to their collections.

So that’s Day 2 all done and dusted. We’ve seen the work of 12 universities today so it’s been a busy day to say the least! We’ll be back tomorrow with the final day’s shows before it’s the big Gala Night when we’ll find out which collections will be up for the all important awards. See you tomorrow!