The runway came alive as our fashion students unveiled a striking mix of style, weaving together sustainability, storytelling, and innovative design at their graduate showcase.

Demonstrating the diversity of voices and bold ideas emerging from the University of Brighton, the graduate fashion show was a stage for final year fashion students to exhibit their creative work to an audience of fashion professionals, members of the creative community as well as friends and family.

The fashion show, which was held on 24 May at the university’s City campus, is part of its Summer Shows, an annual university-wide series of exhibitions across art, design, architecture, media and technology. The student-led show, which transformed the fashion studios into a runway, with street-cast models walking to a DIY soundtrack of ambient workshop sound, reflected not only the technical excellence of the students, but also the ability to evoke emotion and communicate cultural identity, through clothing.

Among this year’s cohort of designers are Fashion Design with Business Studies BA(Hons) students, Sabrina Nieddu and Georgia Bate, who are both finalists in the British Fashion Council competitions this year, sponsored by The Materialist and Pandora respectively.

Sabrina’s work is influenced by her childhood experiences from her mother’s tailor shop on the small Italian island of Sardinia. She blends craftsmanship, upcycling, and narrative-driven design to explore themes such as heritage, intergenerational bonds, and their sentimental connection to clothing.

Sabrina’s powerful work made from second-hand materials earned her the British Fashion Council Scholarship last year and she is currently a finalist in the council’s 2025 Student Fabric Initiative.

“Fashion has always been a dream I carried with me,” said Sabrina, who moved to England in 2013 to work and save up for university. “Each stitch I make carries a story of heritage, resilience, and the quiet strength of second chances. My garments are born from forgotten fabrics, just as my dream was born from years of waiting, working, and believing.

“As someone with dyslexia, I’ve always seen the world a little differently – through textures, shapes, and emotions rather than words. But thanks to the University of Brighton and the support from my tutors, that difference, once a source of struggle, has become the heart of my creative language.”

Another standout collection was ‘Playing Dress-Up’ by Georgia Bate, one of the six finalists in the 2025 BFC competition with Pandora, who travelled to Copenhagen earlier in the year and could win a £5000 prize.

Her work was also inspired by her childhood memories of her mother, dress-up games, and vintage dolls. Using old materials and found objects like broken mirrors and magnet, Georgia’s work creates playful but slightly eerie pieces that mix classic 1950s style with bold, modern fashion. The collection also featured clever design techniques like using magnets to change how the clothes drape and cutting patterns with no fabric waste.

Georgia “This collection is deeply personal. It’s about home, improvisation, and the magic of making something new from the old. I wanted to explore how garments can shift and change, just like the stories we tell ourselves growing up.”

Daniel Crabtree, Course Leader for Fashion Design with Business Studies, praised the students for their originality and professionalism. He said: “The breadth and excellence of collections on show demonstrate our longstanding commitment to uncovering each student’s individual fashion identity, supporting them to find their place within industry and reach their full creative potential.

“As always, we are incredibly proud of the hard work our students put in, not only within their individual collections and portfolios but even more so as they come together as a collective, celebrating their achievements with the Graduate Fashion Show. We can’t wait to see where they go next.”

The show also marked the end of a busy year of industry placements, business development, and creative research for the students, many of whom are stepping straight into roles across the fashion sector in the UK and abroad, planning to continue their studies or launching their own labels.

Based at our City campus, fashion students have access to world-class creative mentorship and facilities to explore their creative ideas, reflect on their meanings in real world settings and develop professional competencies.

An open day for prospective students will be taking place at the City campus on Saturday 7 June. Find out more about open days across our various campuses and book your place.