A second year Fashion and Textiles student at Robert Gordon University’s (RGU) Gray’s School of Art is one of just seven in the UK to be shortlisted for the prestigious Batsford Prize for fashion.
Emily Burnel (19), from Hopeman in Moray, entered her avant-garde anatomy designs into the competition, which is open to all undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The theme for this year’s competition was ‘Interpreting Nature’ and the judges were looking for entries which showed innovative and well-crafted interpretations of nature and revealed something about our relationship to it.
Emily will now travel to London for the Awards Ceremony, where she will be up against five of her peers in the hope of winning the £500 prize and prestige which goes alongside.
“I was surprised but thrilled to be shortlisted. It has been a difficult year so I am happy that my hard work has been worthwhile,” she said.
“I am grateful, excited and looking forward to meeting the judges and others shortlisted at the award ceremony in London.”
Speaking about her thought-provoking design, Emily continued: “I have created an original Avant-garde garment inspired by nature to highlight the juxtaposition between the simplicity we share with nature and our ability to strive for something more.
“Following a visit to Surgeons Hall in Edinburgh and the Zoology Museum at the University of Aberdeen the aesthetics and features of both human and animal skulls inspired me.
“It is not just the anatomy of the skulls that inspired me but also the emotion they convey - the shadow of the eye sockets summoned connotations of death and mortality and evoked feelings of loss. While man shares life cycles with nature, man contrasts this as we fight against death doing everything in our power to prolong life.”
Josie Steed, Fashion and Textiles course leader at Gray’s, added: “We are absolutely delighted that Emily’s work has been shortlisted for this coveted award.
“Emily’s work is based on a second year fashion design brief entitled 'Gray’s Anatomy' where students took inspiration from human and animal body structures and forms to create unconventional fashion silhouettes for an avant-garde garment.
“To have one of our second year students shortlisted alongside only six in the whole country, and the only one in Scotland, clearly shows that Gray’s is being recognised nationally for Fashion Design.”