Sustainable garments contest win for young designer

An 18-year-old designer who loves creating sustainable fashion garments has won an award for creating water-inspired garments using wool.

Alexandra Burch from Witney, Oxfordshire, is the winner of this year's Wool4School Young fashion designer competition, in partnership with University of the Arts London (UAL).

Ms Burch said she had looked at different ways to use wool.

"It's really important to re-wear your clothes again and again," she said.

The assignment was to create garments out of sustainable fabrics and designed using merino wool and the theme of this year's competition was the natural elements earth, water, fire and air.

Ms Burch said it was "a really good material" for sustainable fashion" because it "is a renewable fibre".

"I didn't really know before researching but it's in a lot of athletics material, so active wear," she said.

"I looked at different types of ways you can make patterns within the knitted materials.

"You can actually make denim effects, too, so I experimented with that."

In an article for UAL she said she had chosen the element of water so she worked with "deep blues and golds”.

She added that she had focused her silhouettes and design on the hippie movement of the late 1960s.

"When you are looking at buying clothes, make sure you're thinking about whether you're going to wear them in five years time," Ms Burch said.

She said the charity shops in her home town inspired her.

"I think it's much more fun to find a gem in a charity shop than just searching online for exactly what you want," she said.

"It's more rewarding and more sustainable."

She has been developing her sewing skills working as an assistant seamstress for a Witney-based dress maker Naomi Bridges.

Ms Burch aid she was currently looking for fashion universities that she would like to study at next year.

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