FASHION SCHOOL PILOT OUTCOMES SEPTEMBER 2015

Fashion School

Pilot Outcomes

September 2015

NEWS

Aims of the Pilot

The immediate aim of the 6 month pilot for Fashion School was to determine the feasibility of running a fashion and design school with a Social Enterprise purpose within the community-setting of Dunbar, Scotland. Here students would be trained in the heritage skills of fashion design, pattern-cutting, garment construction and tailoring to a couture standard by professional Fashion Designer Jacqui Burke.

The uniqueness of the course lies in its emphasis on “learning by doing” and by the fact that the training takes place within a real-life business environment. It was envisaged that revenue would be generated early on in the student’s training by using their developing skills to work on bespoke garment commissions for individual clients. By doing so, some of the costs associated with the training could be offset as well as giving the student valuable business experience.

Being a social enterprise, our social purpose is intrinsic to who we are. So as well as trialing the business aspect we wanted to continue building relationships with the wider community, engaging with individuals

to provide support and training and promoting art and culture.

Our Vision

The longer-term aim is that by providing local, quality training, not only can we establish a unique fashion school but that we can build up enough local expertise that will sustain a fashion industry centred right here in East Lothian utilising local skills to design and manufacture high-end garment collections for sale to designer shops both in the UK and around the world. To do that, our next phase would be to take on our most promising students as paid apprentices. They will continue to develop their skills under Jacqui’s direction in a real business environment to design and manufacture high-end garment Collections. We would also be collaborating with local businesses and charities to put on Fashion Shows to showcase our collections. This will not only help to raise our profile but also to generate revenue. This revenue will then be ploughed back into the Fashion School to help sustain it and enable us to continue providing high-quality education, support, engagement and training.

Welcome To Our New Students! Through collaboration with The Ridge and the SDS Employability Fund, our new students will be studying with Jacqui over the next 12 weeks to gain a National 4 award in Fashion & Textile Technology.

Fashion School SQA Accreditation Our hard work over the past year has borne fruit and we are proud to announce that we are now an SQA Accredited Training Provider.

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Fashion School Pilot October 2014

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Due to some unforeseen and ongoing difficulties with our premises, the Pilot had to be extended from its initial 6 months. Despite these setbacks, our Pilot has been hugely successful.

Training We have successfully trained our

students to professional standards in fashion design, pattern-drafting, pattern-cutting, construction techniques and tailoring.

Our aim was to have the students generate revenue by undertaking paid couture garment commissions from private clients. In this, they were hugely successful and generated nearly £5000 from completed commissions, ranging from work trousers to a complete mother-of-the-bride outfit.

By working in a real business environment our students have gained invaluable transferable skills that will enhance their employability.

One of our students entered a design that passed the first round of the Greyfriars Design Tartan competition 2014. This was a fantastic achievement, bearing in mind that our student had absolutely no previous experience of fashion design.

Community Engagement & Collaboration

SEEL Networking Event (March 2015) The Fashion School played host to the SEEL (Social Enterprise in East Lothian) Networking Event. This event was a huge collaboration between the students, the local community and Dunbar secondary school. Our students gave a presentation about their experiences at the Fashion School, members of the local community along with pupils from Dunbar Grammar School all worked together to produce an outstanding Fashion Show with some of the pupils modelling the latest collection and others acting as hosts/hostesses to the guests.

Dunbar Street Art Trail (April 2015) As part of the very first Dunbar Street Art Trail, the Fashion School worked with the Art Department of Dunbar Grammar School and its pupils to customise jackets donated by a local business using a John Muir and “graffiti” theme. On the day itself, the Fashion School was opened to the public where the pupils modelled the customised jackets. The whole day was a hugely successful one for Dunbar with free art events happening all over the town.

HUDA (STUDENT)

“Working with Jacqui I've learnt so much more than I thought I would”

HUDA (STUDENT)

“Jacqui's Fashion School is, for me, a blessing.

It really has opened up a new world for me.”

Outcomes

One of our volunteer make-up artists helping our models get ready for the SEEL Fashion Show.

Models from Dunbar Grammar School getting ready for the Street Art Event at the Fashion School

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Work Experience Provision One of our students worked with

Dunbar Grammar School to help deliver mock interviews to pupils in preparation for their entry into the World of Work.

The Fashion School provided a 12 week placement for a marketing student from the School of Textiles & Design (Heriot Watt University) through the “Adopt an Intern” scheme.

We also provided a work-experience placement for a pupil from Knox Academy in Haddington.

Outreach

Dunbar Grammar School The Fashion School helped in the Dunbar Grammar School’s production of “Grease” by running a workshop to teach some of the performers how to create their own costumes.

Dadswork “Go Mad with Dad” We collaborated with East Lothian charity Dadswork to provide craft activities for dads/male carers and their children at their

highly successful “Go Mad with Dad” event at Prestonpans Infant School.

Volunteering Opportunities

The Fashion School provides volunteering opportunities to anyone who is interested in what we do. Without our volunteers, the Fashion School would simply not be the Fashion School. From helping with decorating, cleaning, modelling, hairdressing, applying makeup and photography there is something for

everyone!

Educational Visits

Iranian Festival

In February 2015, the students visited the “Persian Chic” Fashion Show as part of the Iranian Festival held in the National Museum of Scotland. This was a fantastic source of cross-cultural inspiration for our students.

London Textile Fair.

In July, we attended the London Textile Fair. This is the UK’s premier platform for fashion fabrics and clothing accessories. Not only was this a fantastic opportunity to source fabrics for future collections but also to start making contacts and building the Fashion School’s profile with large suppliers. As a result of this visit, the international company YKK (zips) has expressed interest in future sponsorship with the Fashion School.

STUDENT

“I'll benefit (from this course) when I go to

university.”

ZOE (STUDENT)

“In Dunbar we don't have anything like this - you've got to travel to Edinburgh for whatever you want to study. A lot of people find It difficult to do all the travelling”

Dunbar Grammar School pupils constructing their costumes for their production of Grease.

Fashion School student at the London Textile Fair

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Over the coming year we have some exciting projects we will be developing. Edinburgh Arab Festival 2016 We are in dialogue with the Arab Festival in Edinburgh (2016) to promote cross-cultural links and export opportunities, using fashion design as the vehicle.

Dunbar Grammar School We are in talks with Heather Mackie at Dunbar Grammar School re: developing the use of the Fashion School for extra-curricular activities. We are also continuing to develop the Fashion School as an alternative destination for school leavers. We currently have 2 young school leavers embarking on our National 4 qualification in Fashion and Textile Technology and hope to build on this in the future. Scottish Fashion Creative Network (SFCN) SFCN provides a platform for promoting Scotland’s fashion talent, provide extensive cpd programmes in partnership with educational institution and run an events and exhibition programme in conjunction with corporate partners. We have begun dialogue with SFCN to profile our capabilities and the opportunity to collaborate across Scotland.

National Museum of Flight The National Museum of Flight has invited us to put on a catwalk of our latest designs at the 2016 Air Show. This will be a fantastic opportunity to showcase the Fashion School and our students’ work .

Future

Dunbar Grammar School pupils working on their costumes for their Grease production.

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