Why this Preston student is hanging out with Alesha Dixon

Amy Morris is in the final of a dress designing competition

A fashion student from Preston could see her dress-making skills showed off by Alesha Dixon.

The Britain’s Got Talent judge has picked out the design by fashion student Amy Morris.

Amy, who grew up in Lostock Hall, entered the challenge of designing a dress for Alesha to wear during a red carpet event.

The 21-year-old University of Central Lancashire student said: “Just being shortlisted for the competition is amazing and will be a great boost to my career so to go onto win it would be unbelievable. By being shortlisted I’ve already been able to present my work to Hilary Alexander and Alesha Dixon so that experience in itself is invaluable.

“The idea for my design came from wanting to use a material that flows well and reflects natural light. The design is for a black dress with a split up the middle and straps made to look like the collars on a jacket.”

Judges in the competition included CEO of Little Black Dress Mark Evans, who are working with a manufacturer to mke the winning design, and Hilary Alexander OBE a trustee of Graduate Fashion Week.

Alesha Dixon with some of the competition entrants

Alesha Dixon said: “It’s an honour to be a global ambassador of GFW – and, being so involved with Little Black Dress designing my own collection it seemed the most useful thing I could do was support the students and find ways of highlighting their work. I thought, why not wear one of the winning designs? It is motivating for them and gives them a spotlight.”

Amy, who went to Lostock Hall High School and Runshaw College, got the chance to meet Alesha during the competition.

CEO Mark Evans said: “Little Black Dress is all about creating an ethos of confidence. We are honoured to play such a pivotal role in nurturing new talent and working with universities.

“GFW is a fantastic arena for showcasing exciting design – who knows, we may be featuring a whole new range by one of the winning designers soon.”

The winner will be announced at Graduate Fashion Week (GFW) on Wednesday 7 June.