What's new for 2026 at Graduate Fashion Foundation?
This year marks our 35th anniversary, so expect big things!
What do Stella McCartney CBE, Christopher Bailey CBE, Giles Deacon, and Julien MacDonald OBE have in common - aside from an impressive career in the luxury fashion industry? They are all Graduate Fashion Foundation alumni.
Since its launch in 1991, the Graduate Fashion Foundation has strived to bridge the gap between education and the working world. We encourage emerging fashion talent to explore, develop, and spotlight their creative talents across multiple disciplines within the fashion sector. The Graduate Fashion Foundation also connects students with professionals in the industry to help catapult their careers in the competitive fashion sector. In other words, the Graduate Fashion Foundation champions your blue-sky dreams, and provides the tools to make them a reality.
What's New?
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What's New? |
This year, the Graduate Fashion Foundation will celebrate its 35th anniversary, and it’s set to be a big year ahead. To mark the milestone, there will be several exciting opportunities to look forward to, from new initiatives, creative events, competitions, to top-secret announcements, the annual Graduate Fashion Week, and plenty more.
We have curated all the key dates at Graduate Fashion Foundation this year, so read on for important announcements and significant events for your 2026 diary.
What is Graduate Fashion Week?
The Graduate Fashion Foundation is most commonly known for its annual Graduate Fashion Week, though we run many more initiatives throughout the year.
Graduate Fashion Week takes place every June, and it’s one of the highly anticipated events for emerging talent in the fashion calendar. The annual event encourages budding fashion creatives to showcase their work, whether it is a catwalk, an exhibition, or other medium.
While Graduate Fashion Week is the prime opportunity to be scouted by brands, designers, buyers, retailers, and editors, it is also a chance to build connections with like-minded creatives, mentors, and network, which I wholeheartedly believe is the key to a successful career in this business. While the fashion world is vast, the industry is small, so making a positive impression, and forging connections with insiders, will stand you in great stead for the future.
The week-long event also includes workshops and masterclasses hosted by industry professionals, which allows students to understand the sector they want to pursue, seek career advice, and ask any burning questions. Suffice to say, this week in June is full of rare opportunities you don’t want to miss out on.
Surprising announcement
The Graduate Fashion Foundation often collaborates with key partners and sponsors to support emerging talent. In 2025, the Debenhams Group was the principal sponsor for Graduate Fashion Week. As part of the collaboration, the Debenhams Group hosted a fashion show for shortlisted designers. However, other reputable fashion houses have also supported the Graduate Fashion Foundation, including Liberty, Zalando, and fitness brand Ellesse, among many others.
So, who is the headline partner for 2026?
This year Graduate Fashion Foundation is partnering with F&F for the 35th anniversary edition of Graduate Fashion Week 2026. The partnership will see BA students given two briefs: one with a marketing focus, the other centered on design. Alongside an F&F Curated Catwalk Show to showcase the final year collections, there will be an F&F live talk, exhibition, and opportunity to discover the F&F Digital Innovation Lab.
“We’re incredibly excited to be collaborating with Graduate Fashion Week this year. GFW played a pivotal role in my own career, as it has for so many at F&F, so being able to support the next generation of designers feels like a true full-circle moment. Nurturing talent is at the heart of what we do at F&F, and this partnership is a natural fit. We’re proud to help emerging talent take their first steps into the industry, and this marks the start of an exciting, long-term partnership with GFW.”
Key dates for 2026
Graduate Fashion Week 2026 may be the biggest event in the calendar, but there are other key dates to bookmark in your diary.
4th February: The Fashion Accelerator Programme Shortlisting and Judging Day
24th February: The Young Talent of Tomorrow Fashion Design Competition Winner Announced
2nd April: Full Graduate Fashion Week schedule to be announced
20th April: Graduate Fashion Foundation annual photoshoot
15th-18th June: Graduate Fashion Week 2026
15th-18th June: The Innovators of Tomorrow Showroom
June: Circularity Masterclass Winner Announced
15th-18th June: Liberty Fabrics Competition Winner Announced
16th-19th July: Free Range Showcase
Stay tuned, we will be updating the calendar with more key dates throughout the year.
What’s next?
If you are looking for your big career break, check out the plethora of jobs to kickstart your fashion career and keep up to date with our Instagram for more.
