Graduate Fashion Week launches Protégé Project

Leading industry figures from the fields of design, retail, ecommerce, marketing, recruitment, law and media have signed up to support a new mentoring programme announced today by Graduate Fashion Week.

The Graduate Fashion Week Protégé Project will offer continual support for more than 20 graduates from the Graduate Fashion Week event. Each graduate will be paired with with a long term highly skilled mentor as they prepare to enter the industry.

Among the panel of volunteer mentors is chair of The Protégé Project, Gemma Metheringham who is also creative director of Next's LABEL brand, who said: “I am really happy to support the Graduate Fashion Week mentoring initiative, and through this help support talented graduates get a start in the industry.”

Gemma Metheringham

Under the terms of the scheme each graduate will receive in-depth mentoring sessions in person approximately once every four months over a two-year period, when they will receive advice and career support to help them make their way in the industry.

Other names to have signed up include designers Henry Holland and Oliver Spencer who are scholarship mentors, Jigsaw CEO Peter Ruis, Marks & Spencer head of product PR Tania Littlehales, ASOS head of PR Natalia Seranses-James and Karen Millen head of design Ainsley Walker.

"Work of the Graduate Fashion Foundation doesn’t stop at GFW in June. The British fashion industry wants to give back, and the Graduate Fashion Protégé Project enables people to give knowledge and industry experience to the next generation of talent. It’s so important for our graduates, in what can be a major change in their life that they are offered support so they can go on to achieve successful careers and by doing so help boost the fashion industry and our economy," said Graduate Fashion Week creative director Martyn Roberts.

Graduate Fashion Week is staged annually in June at the Old Truman Brewery. It is the largest platform worldwide for BA fashion talent and has been a registered charity for 26 years.