A stylish Robert Gordon University (RGU) graduate has been nominated for a national fashion award.
Ryan Cowie (21) is shortlisted in the Scottish Fashion Graduate of the Year category for the Scottish Fashion Awards, which showcases the best of the country’s fashion talent.
The former St Machar Academy pupil is nominated alongside four other recent graduates and will find out if he wins the accolade on September 3.
Ryan, who graduated from the Fashion and Textiles degree course at Gray’s School of Art earlier this month, said he was taken aback when he heard of his nomination.
“It was amazing when I found out they had actually picked me,” he said. “I didn't graduate with as high a degree as I would have liked and I was telling everyone I was a ‘fashion loser’ and then this ended up happening!”
Asked to describe his style, Ryan said: “I'd probably say body conscious, strict and futuristic. If you imagine that Joan Crawford starred in Barbarella that would totally be my style!”
Explaining the inspiration behind his degree show collection, which was called ‘Fembots’, he said: “It was inspired by how female robots have been explored in culture. How female sexuality and a lack of emotion is such a deadly combination, especially for the men that created or used them - they could turn on them at any time.”
Ryan, who is currently working on a new collection, says that his interest in fashion started at a young age.
“I used to draw cartoon characters when I was younger and my favourite part was always designing their outfits,” he said. “Then I realised I could do that on real people and it went from there.
“Studying at Gray’s was an amazing experience and although sometimes there were challenges, it was always such a good laugh. I also met people that were amazing at what they do and that made me want to absorb as much of their knowledge as I could.”
The Scottish Fashion Awards, which are now tenth year, were established to honour Scottish talents who have made a significant contribution to the industry whether as a designer, graduate, model, stylist, make-up artist, marketeer or fashion writer.
This year’s judging panel includes supermodel Stella Tennant; Caroline Rush CBE, Chief Executive of The British Fashion Council; and editors from leading fashion glossies including Glamour, Grazia, Paper Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, Marie-Claire, Vogue Italia and The British School of Fashion.