If you’re looking for fresh fashion inspiration or want to discover the next generation of British designers, this is the place to start. I spoke to three talented emerging designers from UK universities whose 2025 graduate collections explore everything from sustainable streetwear to zero-waste tailoring and contemporary outerwear inspired by Victorian mountaineering. We discuss their design processes, hopes for the future, as well as advice they would give to next years graduates.
As the spotlight grows on emerging fashion designers and the industry seeks new voices, these recent graduates represent the innovation and individuality that defines what fashion is in 2025. Whether you’re a student, stylist, or simply curious about how to start a career in fashion design, their insights offer a behind-the-scenes look into what it takes to make it through fashion school and break into the industry today.
Daniella Armitage
Huddersfield University
From a young age, Daniella was drawn to styling her own outfits. Experimenting with unexpected combinations, and letting her mood dictate what she wore, “fashion has always made me feel excited,” she says, “It’s one of the only things that truly feels like me.” Over time, that passion evolved from styling into design. Her work now centres around creating garments that are not only sustainable and functional but also adaptable, reflecting her belief that good fashion should fit into real lives.
Her graduate collection draws from a nostalgic yet highly practical source: her family photo albums. Inspired by vintage images of her grandfather’s fishing and hunting trips, and early memories of time spent outdoors with her dad and uncle, the collection captures the weathered charm and utility of workwear. These memories, filled with the outdoors and movement, sparked the idea to blend the rugged, lived-in appeal of country clothing with her personal love for streetwear fashion. The result is a thoughtful fusion – clothes that speak to heritage while embracing a contemporary, urban aesthetic.
Staying true to her eco-conscious ethos, Daniella sourced all materials from offcuts and industrial waste – much of which she collected during her industry placement year. Some of the materials even came from her grandparents, making the project as emotionally resonant as it is environmentally responsible. She used outdoor textiles in new ways, applying hardy, utilitarian fabrics to non-traditional silhouettes, which give the pieces a fresh energy. “This contrast helped not only bring a fresh perspective to function and form, but also reflects my commitment to sustainability” she says.
The design process began with collage — blending textures, prints and shapes to spark fresh ideas. This hybrid creative process allowed her to pair streetwear with elements of classic fieldwear, developing her unique voice. Sketches followed, then a careful selection of materials before she moved into pattern cutting and garment construction.
One of her priorities was to design versatile, genderless fashion that anyone could wear. “I don’t envision one specific person,” she explains. “I want my clothes to be inclusive — adaptable to different bodies, identities, and lifestyles.”
In the future, Daniella hopes to join a design team that values sustainability and functionality as much as she does. Her ideal role would allow her to continue exploring ethical fashion design, with an emphasis on making a positive impact in the industry.
As for advice to the next cohort of fashion graduates 2025, she’s clear-eyed: “Stay true to your own vision, don’t get caught up in trends or what others expect. Be open to experimenting and learning from mistakes.” She finishes will something we could all probably do with remembering; “Take care of yourself, rest and mental wellbeing are just as important as hard work.”
You can view more of Daniella’s work on Instagram @daniellaarmitagefashion
Jennifer Lai
Nottingham Trent
For Jennifer, the journey into fashion started not in a classroom, but at a concert. While studying visual arts, she was struck by a powerful performance by singer Hins Cheung, who wore a custom piece by Kit Wan that told the story of a traditional Chinese opera. Jennifer recalls, “I was deeply impressed by the storytelling via the garments… I’d never thought fashion could be such a powerful tool to speak.”
Her graduate fashion collection, is rooted in the Buddhist concept of “Nothingness.” The idea came to her during a period of emotional burnout, when academic pressure had left her physically and mentally drained. Rather than push forward blindly, she began to question the purpose of all the effort and output — and in that search, found clarity and inspiration. “Nothingness represents the void of before and after life,” she explains. “It’s a call for us to let go of all desires and suffering. After all, nothing actually matters.” This philosophical framework became the backbone of her graduate collection.
Her work is a response to fast fashion’s excess, placing timelessness and sustainability at its core. She chose to use only deadstock, end-of-roll, or donated fabrics for the collection – all with low-maintenance properties that require minimal ironing, cleaning, or handling. Prioritising comfort, skin-friendly textures, and ease of wear, her garments are designed to fit naturally into everyday life, every day, and for every one. “The clothing only comes alive on the body, responding to movement. It’s not complete until it’s worn,” she says. These values echo across her design process, where form and function are inseparable.
She also experimented with zero waste pattern cutting, a notoriously technical process that requires every piece of fabric to be used, similar to the logic of origami. “It was one of the biggest challenges,” she admits. “There’s no ‘model answer’ to follow. But within the limitations, I found freedom – and joy in the experimentation.” In the early stages of development, she relied heavily on CLO 3D software to create digital toiles, helping to eliminate physical waste while refining her silhouettes.
Her commitment to sustainable fashion design didn’t stop at textiles. The accessories used in her collection were made using eggshell ceramics — a biodegradable material she developed through experimentation with food-grade ingredients like sodium alginate. The result was a matte, sand-like texture that mimics traditional ceramics but dissolves over time, leaving no trace behind. It’s this type of fashion innovation that sets her apart from her peers, showcasing how fashion graduates are increasingly driving progress and shaping the future of fashion.
Throughout the development process, she looked to designers like Issey Miyake, particularly his Pleats Please line, for inspiration. “They focus on freedom of movement and minimal waste – values I really admire,” she says.
Ultimately, the collection was designed to be genderless, wearable, and timeless. There’s no ideal customer, no target niche. Simply clothing that fits comfortably into real life, while asking bigger questions about how and why we consume.
Looking ahead, Jennifer hopes to bring her work to a wider audience by launching a small business inspired by her collection. “I want to raise awareness of zero waste fashion within the mass market,” she explains. Her goal is to make sustainable design practices more accessible and show that fashion can be ethical.
When asked what she’d tell next year’s graduating class of fashion students, she offers something simple yet powerful: “Feel the world with your heart. Love when you can. Nothing is more important than your own self.”
Scarlet Taylor
Nottingham Trent
Scarlet didn’t so much choose fashion as stumble into it through instinct. “I always found myself drawn back to a creative style of living,” she says. “Every time I was in education or in times of struggle I always went back to creative thought processes and ways of getting through my emotions, so for me it was quite right that I found a way to incorporate that into my career.” For her, fashion was the form that made the most sense: “From a really young age it was always quite apparent that I found passion through a physical creative output and I just loved sewing. Being able to design, make and have a finished product that reflects different parts of my creative skills that shows who I am.”
Her graduate collection began with a new personal interest — hiking in the Peak District — and a desire to explore “outerwear and functionality but from a new and different perspective.” In her research, she came across Victorian mountaineering and became “completely engrossed by it all. From the traditional silhouettes that lacked modern day functionality, the dystopian feel, and the intuitive creativity of these explorers to just go out and explore with a lack of technology was quite fascinating.” She set out to merge “something that was completely non-technological” with “something that was highly technological,” incorporating techniques like waterproof seams and heat binding to reflect that duality.
Functionality played a huge role in the collection. “I found myself being drawn to overly functional details,” she says – zips, drawstrings, magnetic poppers – and used elements like pleating and considered print placement to “add depth and a dystopian aesthetic.” She also pushed her skills into new territory, incorporating knitwear for the first time to bring layered texture and modernity to traditional references.
Her design process is rooted in experimentation. “Sketch to the final garment just looks like a lot of sampling,” she admits. Samples are a way of refining ideas and often shift the silhouette entirely: “One sample for one design element might not work, but then how can that be put into something else so it can work.”
Pushing technical boundaries meant facing a fair share of challenges. “There’s a lot that can go wrong by one factor changing,” she says, especially when juggling performance fabrics, print, and knit. One of her biggest hurdles was decision-making: “I struggled with making quick decisions and just going with it and trusting the process.”
When it comes to influences, she’s drawn to designers who elevate the everyday. “I recently became influenced by a lot of Japanese and Korean designers,” she says, naming Post Archive Faction, FFF Postal Service, and J.L-A.L as current favourites. She also admires brands like The North Face and Arc’teryx for their clean, performance-led design: “They are able to do performance-based garments in a really clean and simplistic way.”
Among the pieces she’s most proud of are her printed knit jumper and the “windswept” shirt. The former represents a skill she developed from scratch; the latter involved detailed heat binding to merge tradition with function.
As she looks to the future, she hopes to move into “manufacturing and sampling,” ideally in technical performance wear. “I am definitely more of a 3-D visual person,” she says, and wants to help “enhance everyday garments to be functional and performance-based – not just for people who want a very active lifestyle but for day-to-day people.”
Her advice to next year’s graduates is both practical and passionate: “Trust yourself, trust your ideas… create a community and just be confident.” Most importantly, “do something that emulates every bit of you.”