Fashion students design Miss Scotland outfit

Fashion students at Glasgow Clyde College will be watching Miss World with anticipation this year, as Miss Scotland steps out in their design to a world wide audience.

This year’s Miss Scotland, Linzi McLelland, asked the College if they would work with her to design her outfit for the popular beauty pageant which takes place in Sanya, China in December.

Students from the College’s HND Fashion Technology and Fashion Design courses volunteered for the chance to take part in the live project. Students worked in teams to research, develop and create design mood boards that reflected Linzi’s original brief and the competition’s requirements. From the five initial designs presented, Linzi chose one and selected elements from a second design to be incorporated.

The outfit, created by Jamie MacInnes, Eilidh McIntosh, Nisa Ahmed, Alison Smith and Debbie McFarland will be worn during the competition's ‘National Wear’ section and has been made using the official Miss Scotland Tartan. The outfit is made up of a bespoke asymmetric kilt which was designed by the students but made by Edinburgh-based kiltmaker Donna McCulloch, a traditional plaid, off the shoulder corset top with hand stitched feather detail, and one-off matching headpiece adopting the same feather detailing as the corset and created by student Rachel Nixon and lecturer Shona Crozer from the College’s evening millinery class. A personalised embroidered garment label and bag was also created by former student and part-time lecturer, Ashleigh Douglas.

Fashion Design student, Jamie MacInnes, said: “This was an incredible project for us to get involved with. I absolutely loved every minute of it. We worked together in a team of five from across two courses and used our individual skills and talents to create the outfit. We took inspiration from Linzi’s suggestions, the showstopping pieces often worn at the Met Gala and researched traditional dress to come up with five different looks for Linzi to choose from. We can’t wait to see her wear it during the competition.”

Heather Archibald, senior lecturer at Glasgow Clyde College, said: “This has been a fantastic process for students across three different courses to collaborate together throughout the whole research, design and manufacturing process. The project has been a completely different experience to their day to day course work, always working out of hours, meeting deadlines, working in teams and volunteering their time to take part in the project. They’ve shown extreme dedication and commitment and have done a marvellous job. We’re so happy Linzi came to us and we wish her the best of luck for the competition.”

Linzi, 24 from East Kilbride, said: “During my tenure as Miss Scotland it is really important for me to include the community and the people of Scotland. I know how talented the students are at Glasgow Clyde College, so I was very keen to ask them to get involved in the design of my outfit and give someone just starting out in their career this opportunity.”

Miss World 2018 is the 68th edition of the Miss World pageant and will take place in Sanya, China on 8th December where 120 contestants will compete for the crown.

Image (L-R): Students Jamie MacInnes, Alison Smith, Debbie McFarland, Nisa Ahmed and Eilidh McIntosh with Miss Scotland, Linzi McLelland.