Britain's Got Talent star Alesha Dixon could wear Preston student's design on red carpet

UCLan student Amy Morris, second from left, with Hilary Alexander OBE, Mark Evans, CEO of Little Black Dress, and Alesha Dixon.

University of Central Lancashire student Amy Morris was chosen from hundreds of universities hopefuls across the UK to design a gown for the Britain’s Got Talent judge.

The 21-year-old is one of four students to make it through to the competition shortlist final, with the winner being announced at the Gala Award Ceremony at Graduate Fashion Week (GFW) on Wednesday, June 7.

Amy, who grew up in Lostock Hall and went to Lostock Hall High School and Runshaw College, 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.

UCLan fashion student Amy Morris, from Lostock Hall, is one of four designing a dress for singer Alesha Dixon.

“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.”

The competition is organised by premium fashion brand Little Black Dress, which will work with a manufacturer to make the winning design.

Alesha 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.”

Hilary Alexander said: “There was a commendably high standard among the four short-listed candidates and all had done an impressive amount of research and had a thorough knowledge of Alesha’s style.”

Amy is up against fashion students from Norwich University of Arts and two from Plymouth University.

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.”

Now in its 26th year, Graduate Fashion Week is the largest showcase in the world of graduating BA fashion talent, attended by more than 30,000 people, launching the careers of many in the industry including Stella McCartney, Mathew Williamson, Giles Deacon and our new Lifetime Patron Christopher Bailey MBE. As from last year we also had the admirable support of additional high profile Lifetime Patrons Dame Vivienne Westwood DBE RDI, Victoria Beckham OBE and Nick Knight OBE.