Shelter x Graduate Fashion Week

Shelter partnered with Graduate Fashion Week the first Fashion For Social Change Award in 2021.

Students are invited to develop and create ideas in their chosen discipline and medium to use fashion for positive change focusing on either: the housing emergency, renters’ rights or building more social housing.

Students must also integrate sustainable thinking into their ideas.

2022 submissions included a modular clothing shelter, coats from waste materials, upcycled charity shop blazers emblazoned with campaign messages and screen-printed tees with images evoking home.

Graduate Fashion Week winners 2022

Hello, I'm Kate McElduff. I am a fashion design final year student specialising in knitwear studying at De Montfort University.  

 The idea for my Shelter x Graduate Fashion Foundation submission was originally inspired by caravans and camping - specifically taking inspiration from technical elements from awnings, flat packs and multifunctional features.  

 When considering this project on a larger social scale, camping is decompressing everything you own for travel. I wanted to create a garment which made it easier to carry a shelter with you in a modular construction method.  

 In the worst cases, being homeless forces people to sleep on the streets. This is often called street homelessness or rough sleeping. But hidden homelessness, including sofa surfing, is also a huge problem. It is difficult to estimate how widespread it is. However, Shelter says that ‘no longer being able to stay with friends or family’ is a primary cause of homelessness. 

 Therefore this garment will provide a short term solution. Clothing will be my shelter until you provide me a stable home.  

 Throughout the garment, insulating materials have been utilised to provide protection to all wearers. Both natural materials, such as British Lambswool, and manmade materials including emergency blankets have been combined together for the most effective insulation. Features are designed for complete style personalisation of wearer, the garment is completely adaptable to preferences as time goes by. Removing, adding and rolling panels with easy storage allows the wearer choice.  

 My Instagram: @katemcelduff.fashion 

Mya Martin  

Hi, I’m Mya. I have recently completed my Fashion Design degree at Cardiff School of Art and Design. During my final year I was given the opportunity to express my thoughts and views on the housing crisis by entering the Shelter x Graduate Fashion Foundation competition.  

This project actually began back in 2020, during the 2nd lockdown where I began to develop my own design work from home. I was inspired by the graffiti slogans expressed by activists in reaction to the welfare cuts. I then began developing their messages into repeat prints. Once I saw the brief for the competition, I realised I could develop it further. 

I created multiple protest prints that could be sewn onto upcycled garments, creating a peaceful protest of my own. Raising awareness of the housing crisis was my main priority and led me to my own protest slogan, ‘Home was where the heart was’. This is based on the familiar old saying, ‘Home is where the heart is’. I wanted to emphasise not only the importance of housing but also the importance of what ‘home’ means and the emotional connections we have with our homes. This reinforces what is missing from the lives of people without homes. The background repeat slogan of ‘Build more cut less’ acts as a background protest being silently chanted behind the main emotional statement of my work. 

My Instagram is @myamartindesign   

 Shilah China 

I studied BA Fashion Accessory Design and Textile futures at Ravensbourne London University. My work for the Shelter x Graduate Fashion Foundation competition was influenced by memories and the key that represents the home. 

I took the image of the key of my childhood home and my initial thoughts were ‘ KEEP ME SAFE ‘ which is my slogan for the T-shirt designs and keyring that I produced.  

This slogan has now influenced and sparked a personal project that I would like to do next for my brand – ShiChi. A 'home' is often associated with places, objects, and memories, but ‘home’, is also a place within ourselves – somewhere we are always present – that encompasses our feelings and our personal state of mind.  

My Instagram is @shichi__  

Rhona Fee  

 My name is Rhona Fee, and I’ve just completed my Fashion design BA at Manchester Metropolitan University. My work for the Shelter x Graduate Fashion Foundation competition was inspired by the work of Nick Hedges photography during the 60s/70s of Glasgow tenements and their inhabitants, where whole families were crammed into houses and flats in disrepair – something still prevalent today.  

 My Grandma was Glaswegian, and generations of her family grew up in these same tenements, on Thistle Street in an area called Hutchesontown. Contrasting this with traditional twee interiors and craft, particularly cross stitch and the idea of ‘Home Sweet Home’. I asked students at my university and friends to complete a survey on what ‘home’ means to them, collecting words and ideas that many of us take for granted today, and that many people still don’t have access to.  

 By combining various textiles and traditional craft, I am creating a wearable garment carrying an important message, that hopefully will help raise awareness surrounding the many forms of homelessness faced by people today.  

 I now want to develop my own creative practice, to explore ways of creating a sustainable business model which will aim to collaborate with community and charity organisations. Traditional craft and the ways that it brings communities together is very important to me. I want to continue to research these methods and slow ways of working to hopefully give something back to local communities and challenge the way the fashion industry is currently perceived.  

 My Instagram is @RhonalouiseFee