Fashion Design students Nawal Ali and Sudipthi Saravanan both achieved success at this year’s Graduate Fashion Awards, having designed outfits inspired by their experiences of South Asian culture in the UK.
Nawal picked up bronze in the prestigious Best of Graduate Fashion Week Awards and won the Talent of Tomorrow campaign for her menswear collection. This follows winning the DMU Catwalk Award earlier in the year, with Sudipthi the runner-up.
We caught up with both as they returned to Leicester to exhibit their work at the DMU Graduate Show.
Nawal, and Sudipthi, thanks for speaking to us. Could you explain the inspiration for your work?
Nawal
My collection is inspired by my father, who’s a taxi driver - it's basically an ode, a love letter, to all immigrant taxi drivers. It explores their experiences before coming to the UK, how they’ve coped with the transition, and the hardships and racism they often face. My dad found this, especially after 9/11, when the racism got really bad.
When my community came to the UK from Pakistan, we had this idea of autonomy, doing things yourself. Cab driving was perfect for my dad – he was his own boss. He learnt most of his English talking to his passengers, and he wrote this collection of notes of what he’d learnt from them. He’s also a really gentle and delicate man – he loves flowers – so I took his notes and combined them with florals I’d illustrated myself, and I started to sketch this idea of gentle masculinity.
My pieces have this mix of utilitarian silhouettes, but then with chiffon, which is a more delicate material, and included seat belt straps to represent safety. It's like feeling protected in the cab with this man who's a delicate guy - even if he looks scary, he's not.
Sudipthi
My pieces are based on myself within a South Asian community. It’s about the pressures you face being an eldest daughter and how you can get your innocence taken away from you. I was looking in my work at trying to bring the innocence back, but also about the balance between being able to live your life and living with your family.
How has studying at DMU helped you develop your skills?
Nawal
The course really helped, because the lecturers really challenge you – if you’re presenting an idea they ask you why. The people I'm trying to reach, we often shy away from speaking about ourselves or getting into creative courses – we can be independent, but sometimes isolated, shying away from the spotlight. I want to do the opposite, and the course has given me the chance to do that – to develop both my skills and my ethos.
Sudipthi
My lecturers have really helped – encouraging me to think more widely and to research others’ experiences in my community. That’s helped me to realise what my ethos is.
To balance my collection, I needed to use a mix of fabrics, and I chose curtain fabrics with chiffon, which really pushed me, because I didn’t think it was possible. But my lecturers told me not to doubt myself and just do it. Looking back, I’m quite surprised by what I’ve produced - them pushing me has worked really well.
What was your experience of Graduate Fashion Week, and what does winning mean to you?
Nawal
There’s pressure because you’re representing the university. DMU does really well every year, so for me it was great just to take part.
Having my looks represented on the catwalk, seeing your stuff move as a whole on a body, was amazing. You get to see how it’s done with professional models and professional makeup, like what you’d have at London Fashion Week.
And, for everyone on the course, their portfolio is out there to see by people from industry. They come in and look at your work, and you get to discuss your ideas with actual employers you might want to work for.
I really didn’t expect to win. Getting to speak to the judges, these crazily important people in the industry, was so insightful, and seeing them appreciate my work made me think that I could actually make it.
Sudipthi
It’s great to get feedback from your friends and your lecturers, in a small bubble, but going to Graduate Fashion Week and getting compliments from other people felt different. Hearing from people in the industry and how they’re looking at it really opens your eyes.
What are the next steps in your career after you graduate?
Nawal
We’re lucky at DMU because we’re taught the whole package – CAD, illustration, design, everything, which opens up lots of career options in fashion for us.
For me personally, it's deciding what area of fashion I want to get into. I’m now at the point where I have my portfolio and I’m able to present myself, and I have a list of brands that I really enjoy, so I’ll be contacting them. Uni has set me up in a really good position where I can do that now. And of course, winning the award has helped with that.
Sudipthi
We've covered everything in our course, so now it's more of who you want to work for, and what you stand for. You need to decide what kind of commercial brand you want to go to, or whether you want to work for a small business. It's figuring out who you are as a person and what you want to do. DMU has helped us with everything, so now it’s down to us to make the decision.
Karen Deacon, Programme Leader for Fashion Design, reflected on the students’ success:
Nawal and Sudipthi are both really strong students - they’re hard-working and always receptive to feedback from members of staff. It’s a difficult thing to learn and accept when someone is critiquing your work, but these two have always been really good at that.
Having the wherewithal to be open to experimentation and development is a great skill to have, and I think we can see that in their success at Graduate Fashion Week.
Nawal and Sudipthi’s success capped off a great week for DMU at Graduate Fashion Week, with several other students winning awards or gaining recognition.
Find out more about the winners and competitors, and learn about DMU’s degree courses in Fashion Design and Fashion Communication and Styling.
Posted on Tuesday 7 July 2026