London Fashion Week February 2021 will showcase Lucy Saunders, the competition winner and her MTV inspired collaboration which will be exclusively available at River Island
London, 16 February 2021 – Launching Tuesday 23rd at 16:00 during London Fashion Week, MTV, the British Fashion Council, River Island and ICEBERG announce the ‘Music Meets Fashion Competition’ winning collection by, Lucy Saunders with aspecialperformance by Ivor-nominated sensation, Griff. The collection is inspired by MTV and designed with gender neutrality, size inclusivity and sustainability in mind, it will be available online with RiverIsland.com.
The ‘Music Meets Fashion Competition’ is a competition between MTV, River Island, the British Fashion Council and ICEBERG that was announced at London Fashion Week in February 2020. Fashion design students from 21 fashion schools, selected through the BFC Colleges Council Network in the UK and select international design colleges in the US, Mexico and Australia, were invited to design a line inspired by MTV that merges music, fashion and sustainability.
Handpicked from hundreds of submissions, the five finalists are Rebecca Cox from University of Leeds, Bew Chan from Manchester Metropolitan University, Lucy Saunders from London’s Kingston University, Rebeca Serrano from Universidad Iberoamericana (IBERO) Mexico City and Alice Michelle from Academy of Arts University San Francisco. Each finalist had ‘mentoring’ calls with River Island to talk about their commercial pieces and how to adopt their approach to a competitive commercial landscape. The finalist catwalk designs were presented at London Fashion Week September 2020 with a digital activation created by MTV Breaks.
The winner, Lucy Saunders from London’s Kingston University, was selected by a jury of industry leaders comprised of Naomi Dominque, Design Director of River Island, Kerry Taylor, EVP of Entertainment & Youth Brands, ViacomCBS Networks International, Caroline Rush, Chief Executive BFC and James Long, Creative Director of ICEBERG.
Lucy Saunders and her 8-piece, MTV inspired, River Island collection will be revealed with an exclusive performance by MTV Push Finalist and Ivor-nominated, Griff. The emerging, multi-hyphenated singing sensation has already made the top 5 in the BBC’s prestigious Sound of 2021 poll, and been placed amongst the big leagues of British Pop, with her latest release ‘Black Hole’ receiving Radio 1 support as Annie Mac’s Hottest Record in the World and Clara Amfo’s Tune Of The Week. Griff is even breaching global status with co-signs from Taylor Swift and appeared on Disney’s record-breaking Christmas ad campaign with the beautiful ‘Love Is A Compass.’ The Chinese – Jamaican singer will be performing her latest track amongst other anthems on MTV’s ‘Music Meets Fashion’ Competition Winner’s Announcement on schedule at London Fashion Week 23rd February 2021.
The performance will be streamed on https://londonfashionweek.co.uk at 16:00.
Caroline Rush, Chief Executive of the British Fashion Council
“Congratulations to Lucy Saunders on a well-deserved win! Working with MTV, River Island, ICEBERG and the incredible finalists throughout this challenging year has been incredibly rewarding. The creativity has remained inspiring and optimistic throughout, representing the strength and power of fashion to express emotion and propel people forward even during difficult times.”
Kerry Taylor, EVP of Youth & Entertainment Brands and BET International, ViacomCBS Networks International
“I am thrilled to congratulate Lucy Saunders as the ‘Music Meets Fashion Competition’ winner for her catwalk designs that encapsulated all that MTV is and where we can go in the future so vibrantly. I am truly blown away by the outstanding work created by each incredibly talented finalist in this process and it was such an honour working alongside them as they and their collections have evolved to overcome obstacles and meet the new needs of society.”
Naomi Dominique, Design Director, River Island
“Having previously collaborated with global and influential music artists and continually supporting emerging and aspiring young design talent, the MTV ‘Music Meets Fashion Competition’ was a perfect fit for us at River Island.Working with the finalists and Lucy has been an exciting process for us, they have all been dedicated to the project and each of them have created something innovative that has suited River Island’s design ethos of inclusivity for all. This year has thrown a lot at us due to the pandemic, and even with the unexpected obstacles in our way, we have all managed to remain empowered and optimistic throughout; it is so inspiring to see in the emerging talent of today and River Island is incredibly excited to reveal Lucy’s MTV inspired commercial designs in February!”
Lucy Saunders’ commercial collection will be available online at RiverIsland.com 19th February 2021.
Prices range from £18 – £55