Nottingham Trent University student graduates in ceremonial gown she designed
Students graduating from Nottingham Trent University (NTU) this year have been the first to wear newly designed ceremonial gowns and hoods, following a competition to update the previous decades-old designs.
By Sarah McLeod | Published on 28 November 2024
Categories: Press office;
The winning design came from Georgia Stevenson, who will herself be graduating this month in her own gown, having completed her MA in Fashion and Creative Pattern Cutting. Her creation takes inspiration from the angles of NTU’s iconic Arkwright building, with the addition of the coat of arms in the University’s signature pink colour.
Current NTU fashion students were invited to create a distinctive new look for the graduation gowns, working towards a brief to reflect the University's brand with unique details and components. NTU’s existing Graduation gowns have been in place since 1990, and consist of 24 academic dress designs in the University's previous brand colours.
Working closely with NTU’s gown supplier Graduation Attire, Georgia spent many months bringing her concept to life, and also won a prize of £500 in the process.
The new gowns have impressive sustainability credentials, as each one is made using 30 post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. Each hood created cuts and folds to a single rectangle, resulting in minimal fabric waste during production. Comfort is also a key feature, with the new gown showcasing a more angular design without a neckband or buttonhole reducing slippage of the garment.
Talking about her unique design, Georgia said she wanted to create something dynamic and sustainable for graduates of 2024 and beyond:
“When I heard about the competition, I thought it was an amazing opportunity, as I have not heard of many universities redesigning their academic dress before. I knew I wanted to design something completely unique and very different. After speaking to previous NTU students on my MA course and seeing their Graduation photos, I realised that the Arkwright building was a major backdrop behind everyone’s photos, which inspired me.
“I was also inspired by NTU’s strong sustainability values. The University really drives and inspires us all to work in more sustainable ways and this was something I wanted the new academic dress to reflect. I have achieved this by creating the hood from a rectangle piece of fabric leading to a very minimal waste design.”
Commenting on the design, Edward Peck, Vice-Chancellor and President at Nottingham Trent University expressed his pleasure on the final result:
“I’m very pleased we’ve been able to utilise our students’ considerable talents in updating our academic dress. Georgia’s redesign is innovative, unique and sustainability-focused, reflecting our goals as a university of the future. I’m looking forward to seeing our new gowns in situ at the ceremonies in December.”
The new designs also mean the cost of hiring a gown for graduation has reduced by half for graduating students.
Notes for Editors
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About Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has been named UK ‘University of the Year’ five times in six years, (Times Higher Education Awards 2017, The Guardian University Awards 2019, The Times and Sunday Times 2018 and 2023, Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023) and is consistently one of the top performing modern universities in the UK. It is the 3rd best modern university in the UK (The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023).
NTU is the 5th largest UK institution by student numbers, with over 40,000 students and more than 4,400 staff located across five campuses. It has an international student population of almost 8,000 and an NTU community representing over 160 countries.
NTU owns two Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for outstanding achievements in research (2015, 2021). The first recognises NTU’s research in science, engineering, arts and humanities to investigate and restore cultural objects, buildings and heritage. The second was awarded for research on the safety and security of global citizens.
The Research Excellence Framework (2021) classed 83% of NTU’s research activity as either world-leading or internationally excellent. 86% of NTU’s research impact was assessed to be either world-leading or internationally excellent.
NTU is rated 5/5 stars overall and for Teaching, Employability, Internationalisation, Research and Facilities (QS Stars 2022).
NTU is a top five university for widening participation with 25% of NTU students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds (HESA 2021-22). It was the first UK university to sign the Social Mobility Pledge in 2018 and was named ‘University of the Year’ at the UK Social Mobility Awards in 2019,
NTU is the most sustainable university in the UK and 2nd in the world (UI Green Metric University World Rankings, 2023).