MMU student Macpherson wins Missguided designer prize

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jul 6, 2021

Katie Macpherson is one in 2,000. The Manchester Metropolitan University student has won a competition to have a cut-out cocktail dress she designed sold on the Missguided website.

Macpherson won a competition staged by UniDays as part of wider London Fashion Week celebrations last month. The student discount platform joined forces with Missguided to offer a student designer the opportunity to produce and sell their winning idea on the fashion retailer’s global platform.  
 
The chosen design, selected by a panel of Missguided’s designers, topped 2,000 entries. That meant Macpherson won a one-to-one coaching and mentoring session with a judge to develop her winning idea.

The resulting dress will now go on sale priced at £24 as a limited edition on the fashion platform. She will receive an 8% share of the net profits, a £1,000 Missguided voucher and a UniDays cash grant of £1,000.   

Macpherson said: “Working with their designers to have my dress made has been an incredible experience. I’ve always been inspired by fashion and art, I think looking at runway images and collections is always important when designing, and I like contemporary styles and like to incorporate this into my work. I'm hoping we can work together on a capsule collection in the near future”. 

Zahiah Alawneh, head of Design for Missguided, said: “[We love] creative collaborations and we were thrilled to partner with UniDays to offer this chance to the UK’s student population. London Fashion Week is the jewel of the industry crown and it felt the perfect moment to offer this chance to experience the fashion world first hand”.

Viviane Paxinos, GM of UniDays, added: “This is the start of a programme of fashion collaborations to offer what could be career-defining networking moments for our undiscovered talent".