Ashley Raynor graduated UCC this year, so I saw her a lot thought second year. Her work was focused on sustainability and preparing for living on mars. She showcased her work at New York Fashion week and currently has her own brand. She was a mature student and before she started at UCC she had her own children swear brand. She had a lot of good tips, including designers to look at, places to go for fabric and fastenings, how the fashion shoots are so important to show your work, and to constantly experiment and analyse the work you are producing. I got a lot from her visit and look forward to her coming in again in the future.

Carly came in to talk to us about her experience at UCC and how she has been doing since she graduated. After university Carly got a job straight away with Oasis working as a print and jersey designer, and with accessories She worked there for 7 years but has recently left. She got an interview with Oasis as she was scouted at New Designers, as well as an interview for River Island. She also sold her print and a dress to River Island at New Designers. Her strengths at university were print and construction. I gained a lot from Carly’s talk as she had a lot of good advice for us when moving on from university. New Designers is a huge opportunity for us to showcase our work to the industry, which is why I will be showing mine there next year.

I volunteered to be part of the UCC UCAS Fair team, which involved going to the ExCel Centre London to represent our uni and man the stand. I spoke to a lot of potential students to promote our course and university and I feel it was a success. it was really helpful for me as I took my own work along and spoke to students about what I was doing. I got a lot of positive feedback, and it helped me gain confidence when speaking about my work.