2. Patterns of Fashion Award

Deadline: 30 April

The award has been introduced by The Costume Society to commemorate Janet Arnold, a most respected founder member whose contribution to the academic study of dress is immeasurable. The award is open to students studying on costume-related higher education courses which involve the design and realisation of costume.

The award offered is £500.

The award will be given to the student who has, in the opinion of the judges, produced a reconstruction of a garment from a pattern in one of the Janet Arnold Patterns of Fashion books which reflects the high standards presented in the books.

The judge for this year's award is Jenny Tiramani. Jenny has worked as a costume and stage designer in the theatre since 1976. She was Director of Theatre Design at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre until 2005, working on various ‘original practice’ productions that included dressing actors in hand-made clothing, using surviving clothes, inventories, wills and pictorial evidence from Shakespeare’s time. In 2003 she received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Costume Design for the Globe production of Twelfth Night.

2007 Winners

We were indebted to Jenny Tiramani for agreeing to judge this year's Patterns of Fashion Award. This year there were submissions from 5 different colleges and there were 4 finalists, it proved to be a very difficult task since the standard of the entries were all so high. After much deliberation it was agreed that for this year two awards could be given. These were to Katie Wright, from Wimbledon School of Art for her 1902-3 day dress and to Caroline Lloyd from The Arts Institute at Bournemouth for her Promenade dress 1873-5.

Terms of the Award

1. The applicant shall specify the institution and course attended and the names of the head of department and academic supervisor who will be required to comment as referees on the applicant’s suitability for the award.
   
   
2. The application form must be accompanied by photographs of the finished garment and a brief statement supporting the application.
   
   
3. The initial selection will be made by members of the education sub-committee of the society with professional and academic expertise in costume design and realisation. The sub-committee will present its recommendations to the Executive Committee of the Costume Society.
   
   
4. Three finalists will be invited to present their work at the society's annual general meeting. The Society will ensure that facilities are available for static displays; students are expected to provide suitable dress stands for the display of their garments.
   
   
5. Members of the Society will agree the Award by ballot drawn during the AGM and announced on the day of the final event.
   
   
6. The society reserves the right to photograph and publicise displays in the society’s newsletter, in Costume, the journal of The Costume Society, and on the Society’s web site.

2006 finalists

2006 winner, Sophie Howard. More about her on the previous recipients' page

Runner up in the Patterns of Fashion Award is a 1798-1805 morning dress made by Ellen Cammack

Back view of the 1861-1864 evening dress made by Heather Judge. She says – ‘I chose the back view because it displays more clearly the shapely silhouette’.