PCA Vision 2018 announces winners

The Professional Clothing Awards international student design
competition, PCA Vision has announced its winners for 2018, with Summer
Gill from Bedford College named the overall winner for her versatile outfit
created for airport ground staff.

The annual PCA Vision competition challenges fashion students to be
inspired to design innovative, stylish and functional workwear, while also
utilising cutting-edge fabrications and textiles used across the
professional clothing industry.

In previous years the PCA Vision has only be open to fashion students in
the UK, however, this year the competition, which grants the overall winner
1,000 pounds and a work placement, was opened up to students from
participating universities and colleges across Europe for the first ever
pan-European contest.

This year’s brief challenged the students to develop unique designs that
not only helped to meet the needs of the workers but also enhanced their
ability to perform the job as well, with the shortlisted students taking on
the uniforms for airport ground staff, prison officers, McDonalds workers,
fire fighters, paediatric nurses, engineers, plumbers, personal trainers,
mechanics, and lifeguards.

Overall winner, Gill said after her win: “I was completely surprised, I
never thought I would win, but it is so lovely to have my design
recognised, I really enjoy participating in the competition.”

Judges, which included representatives from Vivienne Westwood, Gerber
Technology and Textilberatung Hamburg, said in a press release that Gill
had demonstrated “creativity, versatility, professionalism and technical
understanding of the job requirements” in her innovative design, which
included multiple ways to wear through a creative zip design that meant the
jacket could remove its arms and the trousers could be turned into shorts.

Explaining the inspiration behind her versatile airport personnel
uniform, Gill added: “I was inspired by streetwear fashion and wanted to
create a garment that was both practical for work and fashionable enough to
wear off the job.

“The detailed shapes on both my outer jacket and trousers were inspired
by airport runway markings, a direct link to my chosen job of airport
ground staff.”

As overall winner, Gill received 1,000 pounds and will undertake a work
placement of up to six-months.

Bedford College student Summer Gill wins PCA Vision 2018 overall
prize

The other major winner of the night included Thomas Davidson from the
Manchester Fashion Institute, who was awarded with the Durable Design Award
by title sponsor Cordura for his “cutting-edge workwear” denim design,
which the brand stated was “creative, commercial and practical for
professional tradesman”.

Davidson, who was inspired by his Dad’s job as a plumber, created a
denim boiler suit, which featured various pockets to make retrieving tools
easier when on a job.

“I decided to take on the PCA Vision brief to challenge myself within my
design work to create garments with a functional purpose,” explained
Davidson after his win. “Being a denim-head and using the theme of ‘vintage
versus modern workwear’, I was ecstatic to find out that Cordura brand had
created a denim specially for workwear purposes, which is utilised in my
design.”

As winner of the Durable Design Award, Davidson was awarded a cash prize
of 1,000 pounds.

Cindy McNaull, global Cordura brand and marketing director, said in a
statement: “Through student design competitions, we often discover that
it’s the students who teach us the most, giving us the opportunity to see
our technologies come to life in new and innovative ways because of their
unique and fresh perspectives.

“We know how important it is to not only believe in the future, but to
invest in it as well, by inspiring the next generation of designers who are
committed to helping workers Live Durable.”

International student Filipe Santana of the University of Lisbon,
Portugal, was also one of the winners of the night, taking home the YKK
Award, granted to a student whose design used YKK zips in the most
innovative and imaginative way. His design was created to be worn by sports
coaches or personal trainers in a health club chain with functionality and
versatility for employee roles both indoors and outdoors.

Commenting on his win, Santana said: “I was not expecting to even be one
of the finalists, I entered to test my own design capabilities, so I was
shocked and honoured to win this award.”

The final award Best Design Award (University) was presented to
Manchester Fashion Institute, who had two finalists, and one winner in
Davidson. The award, sponsored by Gerber Technology presented the
university with 500 pounds for having the ‘best overall design submissions
meeting’ the contest criteria.

This year’s participating UK schools included London College of Fashion,
Manchester Fashion Institute, De Montfort University, Bedford College,
University of Northampton, and Brighton University, alongside international
schools, Letterkenny Inst. of Technology from Ireland, Hochschule
Niederrhein – University of Applied Sciences in Germany, Faculdade de
Arquitetura da Universidade de Lisboa in Portugal, and ESMOD International
and L’Académie Internationale de Coupe de Paris from France.

Stay tuned next week as FashionUnited has exclusive interviews with
emerging fashion designers and PCA Vision 2018 winners Summer Gill and
Thomas Davidson.

Images: courtesy of PCA Vision 2018