Ethic Award for The Urbanites

During a catwalk show at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London, the winners of the Ethic 2008 competition were announced. Design duo Nicole Da Silva and Phong Nguyen also known as 'The Urbanites' from Hackney Community College took home the presigious accolade.

Hosted by eco-entrepreneur and TV presenter Joanna Yarrow, over 200 guests attended the awards from the fashion, media, environmental and ethical industries. Ten finalists had to present their work to a panel of ethical fashion experts including Kate Carter from The Guardian, Jenny White founder of Eco-Boudoir, Sital Punja founder of Sari UK and Creative Director of the Fashion and Textile Museum, David Reeson.

Winners Nicole Da Silva and Phong Nguyen, created a modern wedding dress made by deconstructing and customising a second hand wedding dress from a charity shop in Islington. They screen printed onto the fabric of the dress information about recycling from the BBC website and embellished the dress with pearls also found in a charity shop. The Urbanites showed an impressive portfolio demonstrating how streetstyle can be translated into catwalk costumes.

The Ethic 08 winner, 'The Urbanites' received £450 cash sponsorship from UK Skills and a brand new 'Innov-IS 1200' sewing and embroidery machine for their college courtesy of events sponsor Brother. The Ethic Fashion Award 2008 is part of 'Love London' and was held during Graduate Fashion Week, which will be the next step for many of the entrants and finalists.