The Tailoring Award

Submission
The Tailoring Award has been created to celebrate and showcase excellence in contemporary tailoring, combining heritage craftsmanship with innovative approaches to construction, cut, and materiality. Through this award, the Graduate Fashion Foundation recognises precision, technical mastery, and creative interpretation of tailored garments within a modern context.
Submissions can include:

• Research-led design development that demonstrates an understanding of traditional and contemporary tailoring principles, including silhouette, proportion, and structure

• Advanced technical execution in tailored garments, including cutting, shaping, and construction techniques (e.g. canvassing, padding, internal structuring, finishing)

• Exploration of fabric and material, with a focus on the informed and innovative use of tailoring cloths (including wool and suiting fabrics), considering performance, sustainability, and handle

• Evidence of craftsmanship and attention to detail in sampling, toiling, and final garment realisation

• Innovative or progressive approaches to tailoring, such as reinterpreting heritage methods, incorporating new technologies, or challenging conventions of formalwear

Students must present a physical garment. This can be from one single garment to a full collection of tailoring. Students should also showcase their working portfolio of support work. This should document the design and making process, including research, development, technical decisions, fabric selection, and construction methods, demonstrating how the work fulfils the criteria outlined above.

Criteria

• Demonstration of exceptional technical skill in tailoring construction and finish

• Strong understanding of cut, fit, and proportion in relation to the body

• Innovative interpretation of tailoring within a contemporary fashion context

• Evidence of informed fabric selection and appropriate use of tailoring materials

• Clear communication of process, problem-solving, and technical development

• Consideration of sustainability, longevity, and responsible material use where appropriate

Submission Requirements

• A maximum of 10 pages for nomination shortlisting

• A digital submission (maximum 10MB) including key visuals and a supporting statement

• Full project (physical garments and/or digital work) to be presented at final judging