A NORTHSIDE student is aiming to win a
?¬10,000 prize after being announced as one of eight finalists in a fashion bursary competition.
Aimee Chan, from East Wall, will also be given the opportunity to a have a creative outfit manufactured and sold in Dunnes Stores if she wins this year’s Persil Irish Fashion Awards.
The final will take place in September on TV3’s
‘Xpose’, offering all the finalists a wonderful platform to showcase their talents.
Aimee, a student at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), was born in Portsmouth in the UK to Chinese parents, and moved to Dublin with them when she was two-years-old.
“I grew up in East Wall and still live in my childhood home to this very day,
? she says.
“Throughout my life, I was influenced by the presence of two contrasting cultures in the form of my Chinese parents and studying in a Catholic primary school.
“As I was growing up in Ireland, I also made frequent enough visits to Xiamen in China every two years to visit my grandparents.
“The changes in environment were always a shock to the system whenever I flew over, rich colours everywhere I looked – in the city, in the temples, in the locals’ clothing.
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As a young child, Aimee was always fascinated with her mother’s issues of Vogue magazine.
“I would obsessively leaf through each and every single page analysing the colours and fabric adorning the models’ bodies,
? she says.
“I had a funny habit of memorising every fashion designer that I came across. I have always paid close attention to how garments were constructed or worked in tandem with each other to form a beautiful silhouette, and how the fabric for me, tied everything together.
“When I was about 11-years-of-age, I was brought to a fashion designer’s studio in Hong Kong, where I got my first proper glimpse into the industry.
“That was when I knew that fashion was an area that I wanted to work in. I was asked by the head designer to draw and design an outfit which I gladly did – an Empire line dress with stripes.
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Aimee’s hobbies (other than staying up all night designing!) include yoga, aerial hoop, photography, visiting galleries and museums and also discovering new music every day.
“I believe that keeping fit and mindful through yoga and meditation has helped me stay focused in college and feel continually inspired every day,
? she states.
Aimee says the
?¬10,000 prize would greatly advance her fashion career as she hopes to start a fashion and textile collective involving design graduates when she finishes college.
“I would also use it to fund my internships and gain precious experience in possibly London, Hong Kong or India,
? she adds.
The theme of this year’s competition is a Persil Play Date. The brief to students was to design and make an outfit suitable for a fun day at the park being mindful that growing up is a messy business.
The designs needed to be casual, machine washable and durable. Hundreds of aspiring designers from Ireland’s leading art and design colleges submitted portfolios in January.
From the wealth of creative entries, the judges had a difficult task. Persil has teamed up with leading Irish fashion designers Peter O’Brien and Carolyn Donnelly of Dunnes Stores as judges.
Ms Donnelly says the eight finalists were chosen on the basis of designing well thought out functional and exciting clothes for both mother and child.
“The thought process and inspiration behind each design was clearly illustrated in well executed and very creative workbooks,
? she says.
“They designed to the brief but in doing so managed to create some really innovative, clever, wearable and washable clothes, truly the mark of a good designer.
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