Graduate Fashion Week names lifetime patron

Graduate Fashion Week, which is currently being held at the Old Truman Brewery in London until Wednesday, June 8, has named Dame Vivienne Westwood as lifetime patron.

The event, which showcases the work of more than 1,000 fashion graduates, turns 25 this year, and to celebrate Westwood’s patron role the organisation has also revealed that the Graduate Fashion Week Ethical Award is to be renamed the Vivienne Westwood Ethical Award.

The Ethical Award in association with the Ethical Fashion Forum is a competition open to all students and Graduate Fashion Week member universities with projects that have roots in ethics or sustainability, and the winner will receive an internship at Westwood’s studio in London.

There will also be a separate award of a year’s free membership to the Ethical Fashion Forum’s online platform will be awarded to the three top students in the competition, granting 12 months access to premium sustainable fashionable intelligence and information.

Commenting on her new role, Westwood said: “Buy less, choose well, make it last. If people bought only beautiful clothes that would be Climate Revolution. Let us cultivate talent.

“Thank you Jeff Banks, I am delighted to become a patron of Graduate Fashion Week and to create the Vivienne Westwood Ethical Award.”

Vivienne Westwood named Graduate Fashion Week Lifetime Patron

Graduate Fashion Week chairman, Mark Newton-Jones added: “Vivienne is one of the most inspiring individuals in the British fashion industry. She proves that design talent, vision, and commerce make for a great mix, and propagate strong ideas. Her work has influenced, and been worn and loved by, fashion students in the UK since the 1980s.

"She is a design genius – an icon of style and a national treasure. The way she developed her business, attracting the press, collaborators and investment, has created a template for generations of students. As her business continues to grow, without compromise, she is more exciting, inspiring and relevant than ever.”

Joining Westwood as a Lifetime Patron is fashion photographer Nick Knight.

Image: Graduate Fashion Week - Vivienne Westwood