De Montfort students to showcase at Moda

For the fourth consecutive year, De Montfort University BA

(Hons) Footwear Design final year students will compete for the chance to showcase at tradeshow, Moda Footwear. The ‘History in the Making’ project challenges the undergraduates to create a range of footwear, with the six chosen finalists displaying their designs at the exhibition.

The six finalists will be chosen by Kevin Guildford, head of footwear at DMU and Moda organisers with the overall winner of the project being decided by an industry panel including the editor of the UK’s leading footwear trade magazine Footwear and Fashion Extras and Sean O’Connor, director of Moda Footwear.

The project aims to create a platform for promising footwear designers, with the judges looking for the design that represents the ‘best creative flair and interpretation of the brief’. This year’s theme is to use ‘heritage’ as inspiration and to interpret influences from a key period in history with today’s modern footwear trends.

On seeing early designs from the students, O’Connor said, “We are extremely proud once again to work alongside De Montfort University on the ‘History in the Making’ project. The standard of work this year is exceptional and we hope that the exposure at the UK’s major footwear exhibition will help the candidates in their future career paths.”

Moda, the UK’s key fashion trade event, hosts autumn/winter 12 collections from February 19-21 at the NEC Birmingham.