Worcestershire
WR13 6NW UK
Tel: 01684 584900
For more information please contact:
Sharon Gilbert
Press & PR Manager
Telephone:
01684 584929
Fax:
01684 584930
E-mail: sharon@threecounties.co.uk
Editor's Notes:
The Malvern Spring Gardening Show is a fund raising event and a joint venture of the Three Counties Agricultural Society (Registered charity no: 511868) and the Royal Horticultural Society (No: 222879), and celebrates its 24th year in 2009.
The School of Art & Design is part of Worcester College of Technology, which offers a wide range of subjects and courses in innovative working environments, and is rated one of the best in the country.
An accessible campus and interactive facilities make for an inspiring learning experience, and an excellent team of highly trained lecturers and support staff, with extensive industry experience, offers outstanding personal support and a modern learning culture.
The college prides itself on enabling students to realize potential and move into a career, and individualism and team spirit is both encouraged and rewarded.
Information Line:
+44 (0)1905 725555
Web Site: www.wortech.ac.uk
National Gardening Show Bucks Trend To Present New Garden Catwalk
Top fashion designers are rumoured to be swapping traditional runway fashion previews for cheaper webcasts, and film presentations, but in Worcestershire, it’s show time - just as we know it - as the UK’s first big gardening event of the year, bucks the trend and treats its visitors to a traditional catwalk spectacular, with all the trappings!
The national Malvern Spring Gardening Show (7 -10 May), is launching its very first Spring Fashion Day this year, joining forces with students at Worcester College of Technology, School of Art and Design, to stage a series of fashion parades in the event’s popular Design For Living Theatre on Friday 8.
But this is no ordinary fashion show, and there’s an unusual twist.
Everything from the beautifully crafted garments worked in splendid colour and adorned with shimmering gems, to the dramatic array of hair styles, head-dresses, make-up and exquisite body art, is inspired either by famous English gardens, like Sissinghurst in Kent, a local treasure, such as Worcester Porcelain, or by one of Malvern’s own exciting 2009 show gardens.
Fashion, horticulture and garden design will all come together in the delightful setting of a specially designed, contemporary garden catwalk, created exclusively for Malvern by celebrated Gloucestershire design firm and RHS Gold medal winners, Outdoor Living Space.
Students enrolled on the National Diploma in Art and Design (Fashion and Clothing), HND Design (Theatrical Make-Up and Costume) and NVQ 2 & 3 (Beauty Therapy) and NVQ 3 (Hairdressing) courses, are working round the clock to complete more than 50 mood boards, complete with illustrations, fabric swatches and embellishments.
One group, led by Susan Taylor and Margaret McDonough has been busy researching the gardens at Sissinghurst, Great Dixter and Worcestershire’s own Spetchley Park gardens, and will be showing a unique collection of inspirational jackets and cocktail dresses.
Another student group, led by lecturers Iain Burton-Legge and Barbara Davis, has taken its inspiration from the Chris Beardshaw Mentoring Scholarship, sponsored by Bradstone 2009 garden collection.
For the first time ever, each of the scholarship gardens will have its own individual model, wearing a specially created, theatrical outfit, finished with spectacular hair and make-up and beautiful body art!
There will be four shows on Friday 8 May and another one on Sunday 10, but visitors attending the event’s prestigious First Day (Thursday, 7 May) will be given a sneak preview of what’s in store!
The fashion idea is being extended to the Show’s Borders Without Gardens competition, which will also have a Handbags and Gladrags theme.
For more information and interview opportunities, please contact:
Sharon Gilbert – Press & PR Manager
Three Counties Agricultural Society
Telephone: 01684 584929 (direct dial)
E-mail: sharon@threecounties.co.uk
Show Web Site and Box Office: www.threecounties.co.uk/malvernautumn
Ticket Hotline: +44 (0) 1684 584 900/924
Rachel Gowers – Head of Marketing
Worcester College of Technology
Telephone: +44 (0) 1905 725711
E-Mail: rgowers@wortech.ac.uk
Released: 26/03/2009