Aberdeen and the north-east has enjoyed a long association with the fashion industry thanks to textile designer Bill Gibb and Gray’s School of Art.
And throughout lockdown, many people revisited old hobbies and found new joy in past-times like sewing and crafting.
Perhaps the latest series of hit TV show The Great British Sewing Bee has you harking back to skills you learned during Home Economics?
If so, you might take inspiration from our student fashion show archives when it comes to your next dressmaking masterpiece.
These primary seven pupils at Sandhaven Primary School started young when it came to needlepoint. Useful skills like repairing holes and sewing on buttons were taught during sewing class in 1963.
And from hand sewing to sewing machines, talented 12-year-old Lisa Davidson proved to be very adept at using the equipment in 1974.
The youngster, who attended Linksfield School for Deaf Children in Aberdeen, was making a pair of trousers during sewing and knitting class.
The 1970s was the era of bell bottoms, maxi dresses and ponchos – and these Summerhill Academy students were bang on trend when it came to dressmaking.
Budding young designers Linda Stuart, Dorothy Duguid and Lorna McAllum were off to the bright lights of London in 1976 after qualifying for the final of a national design competition.
It can be a jungle out there in the cut-throat world of fashion, and in 1978 that was the theme for Gray’s School of Art’s fashion show.
Third year student Lynn Balsillie and second year Sheila Stephen, modelled two tropical-inspired outfits for the Gray’s Jungle Fashion Show.
It was a culture clash at the atrium in Gray’s School of Art in 1979 when East met West.
Students were raising funds for a Multiple Sclerosis charity during a show where Susan Kennedy and Kate Mundie modeled Oriental outfits, while ‘punk rockers’ Bob Naismith and David Henderson looked on.
Although not immediately obvious from the interesting clothing creations, the theme for Gray’s charity fashion show in March 1984 was apparently cocktail parties.
Certainly a unique line-up, it doesn’t seem the mediaeval knight meets fifties filmstar looks caught on.
With their bold styles and silhouettes, these gaudy garments are unmistakably 1980s. Trend trailblazer Madonna was at number two in the charts when these students unleashed their designs in February 1986.
In a first at Gray’s, an alternative fashion show was held which was opened up to all students across the school, not just those specialising in textiles.
Participants in ‘the alternative bodywear show’ included Alicia Hibbin, Robert Carcary, Annabel Pattillo, Elaine Gowans, Kay Davidson and Cliff Mackay.
The following April, Madonna hit the top spot in the charts with La Isla Bonita and the flouncy flamenco dress she wore while dancing dangerously around candles in the video kick-started a trend in the late 80s.
These second year textile students at Gray’s were in vogue with their own style in April 1987. The over-sized knits and baggy trousers would go on to become a phenomenon when grunge arrived in the early 1990s.
One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, and showing that fashion has a fun side, these students at Gray’s rummaged in rubbish to make some creative clobber.
Ahead of their time in 1989, Louise Addison, Carole Millar, Wendy Allan, Sue Adams, Sarah McFarlane, Jess Halford and Kay Nicolson hammered home the recycling message at their Lifestyle 2000 exhibition.
Bill Gibb: The ordinary north-east loon who became an extraordinary global fashion icon
