Gunta Andrews

Gunta Andrews is a graduate of our BA (Hons) Fashion Design. At the course-ending Graduate Fashion Week in London, her designs for older women won the Inclusive Fashion Prize.

Firstly, how did it feel to win the GFW Inclusive Fashion Award, and what does it mean for your future career?

The one thing that I really wanted to be considered for, as soon as I heard about it, was the Inclusive Fashion Award. I'm not very competitive, but I so badly wanted to highlight ageism in fashion and in society generally - I really wanted to make that point. Studying fashion, I noticed there are so few older students and there appears to be a general lack of interest in fashion for older people, but I guess that’s to be expected as it’s not something you consider until it affects you directly.

It wasn't so much about winning the prize, but about highlighting that there is a real gap in the market. Older women have really been overlooked in the world of fashion. There's a lot of tokenisms, but not really authentic designs for older women.

When my name was announced as the winner of the award during Graduate Fashion Week,  I completely broke down. I was so shocked and so happy. It just made everything so worthwhile, the whole three years at university and all the self-doubt; all that questioning whether I actually had a concept or was it in my head?

And the panel was so receptive. One of the judges saw me outside the venue afterwards and she said “You know, we were so blown away by your passion. You've made such an important point.”

And it just felt amazing.

Where had you previously studied and worked before coming to ARU?

I did A-levels and went to college to study to be a bilingual PA, which isn't even a thing anymore. Then I worked in commodity trading in the city - aluminium mainly. I organised the global shipping for some of the big trading houses back in the day, like Barclays Capital and Enron.

It was a lot of travel though, and I gradually dropped away from it because of other commitments. I had children, and then I had to take care of my parents and ended up with a big gap in my career. I worked part-time on and off as a medical secretary for the NHS but had an overwhelming desire to work in a creative environment.

What made you decide to go to university later in life?

I would have liked to have gone to university to do art or fashion design when I was 18, but my A-level options and the way I was being pushed and told that fashion wasn't really something that would sustain me through life, moved me away from that. In hindsight I think I could have stood my ground, but I allowed other people to dictate the direction I should go.

I've always made clothes and done some sort of textile art, and during my career gap I started doing short courses in embroidery too, so I decided to do enrol on a degree course before it was too late - I felt that I would be taken more seriously if I had a formal higher level qualification. Also, I always regretted not going to university because I'd helped put my husband and my kids through it, and just really wanted to have that experience myself.

Why did you choose to study at ARU?

Partly from a logistical point of view, because I don't live that far from Cambridge. But also, because I met someone at the time who was in the middle of their fashion degree at ARU. I knew she was really enjoying it, and I thought I would too. It was the obvious choice for me, really.

My experience at ARU was fabulous. Apart from having kids, it was the best thing I ever did.

You say you’ve always made your own clothes - what initially inspired you to get involved with fashion?

It was punk. Punk and being poor. Really poor. I had reasonably good sewing skills - I learned from my grandmother at an early age - and I couldn't afford to buy the clothes that I wanted, so I made them. I made them for myself and then later started making them for my daughter and my mum.

So, I've always had that interest - and punk was really creative and rebellious, so that's always been in me as well.

What's the most valuable thing you will take away from your course?

We had to do a lot of critical thinking as part of the course, and the most valuable thing for me was being able to critique my own work, in addition to being able to receive constructive criticism. 

It was a real shock at first. I remember early on I'd worked really hard on a design only for my tutor to point out all the flaws in my work.  I'd just spent a whole week on it, and was initially upset by the negative feedback, but he was right. I went away and properly looked at what I’d done, taking on board his advice and looking at my own work with a critical eye. Realising that you're not there to be told that you've done a great job, you're there to learn to be the best you can be.

It was actually my kids that said to me “What would be the point of being told, ‘Oh yeah, that's really lovely’ ?”

The tutors make you question things. They make you go back and refine and refine until you know that the thing you've created really is the best it can be. That it's got a concept, you've done your research and you can be proud of what you’ve done.  I didn’t always agree with my tutors’ comments – but that was OK too – as long as I could properly justify my point.

I had such a fixed mindset when I started university, but you do have to learn to look at things from a different point of view. And I think that's something that university gives you that you don't get anywhere else, really - and it’s a skill you can apply to everything.

How did studying at ARU help your career development?

Periodically we would have people coming in who had set up their own business, and a few other guest speakers who were, on the whole, really inspirational.

We went to visit a designer in South London, Phoebe English, which was a real high point for me. She had made a stand against the fashion industry to an extent, but she was still very successful. I found that really refreshing and something I won't forget because she was so authentic and so bothered about sustainability. So that showed us you don't always have to be on the same hamster wheel that everyone else is on.

The university as a whole has excellent careers advisory services.  I had a one-hour Zoom session with somebody who advises ARU students on how to set up their own small business. It was very helpful and highlighted things I had not previously considered.  I don’t have a business head and welcomed advice on what I should be focusing on.  

We were encouraged by our tutors to network and luckily, this is something I find naturally easy, partly because at my age, I just know a lot of people – photographers, graphic designers, journalists, etc – people that can help me if I need them.  For my runway show, I was blessed with the most fabulous models – they were the mums of my fellow students.  I think they really enjoyed themselves and generously agreed to model for the GFW runway show in London. I’m hoping they will model for me again in the future if the opportunity arises.

What piece of advice would you give to other students in your field?

You need to have passion for the subject. I think Fashion Design is regarded as a soft subject by a lot of people, but it absolutely isn’t.  You might not know what you're going to do at the end of it, but you need to have some kind of end goal and above all, passion for the subject.

It encompasses so many disciplines: innovative creativity, practical sewing skills, historical research, interest in art, being able to draw; the business side of things, looking at SWOT analyses for different competitors and all of those things. I've got ADHD, which was sometimes as asset because I could easily switch between different tasks!

If you're doing it just because you like clothes or you think it's a soft option, that isn't enough. If you’re really driven and you really care about what you're doing then it's a fantastic degree to do, but you have to have that passion in the first place.

What was your favourite thing about studying in Cambridge?

I know Cambridge really well. My son lives in Cambridge so for me, personally, that was lovely, because I used to meet him for coffee and could see him more often.

And I like the cows. It's so weird, isn't it, that you've got cows in the city centre?

What’s your next step now you’re graduating from ARU?

I already sold my whole collection from the course, the actual garments I made at the time, so that was really quite reassuring that people wanted the clothes.

Somebody's building a website for me, and I've started making some clothes to sell. There were things in my collection that people liked particularly so I'm going to try and make a few items and then start, very gradually, putting things on my website to see how they're received.

If I'm successful, then I will have to look at getting people to make the clothes for me. But I'm just I'm very relaxed about it all and seeing how it develops. At Graduate Fashion Week they suggested I approach somebody like Marks and Spencer's, for example, to see if they would like to trial a small capsule wardrobe for older people. I'd never thought in those terms ever and I’m not quite ready for that, but I might consider it in the future.

Initially, I just want to start making things, see how they’re received, see if there are enough people interested to keep me busy at the moment. I'd like my business to grow organically and see what happens.  I'm not going to rush into doing something just for the sake of speeding things up - I want things to be done properly and I want to enjoy the process.

And where can people who are interested in buying your designs right now find you?

Until my website's up and running, I’ll put them on my Instagram - Don’t Dictate - and people can contact me through there.

Other than the business itself, what other projects do you have on at the moment?

I'm getting back to hand-sewing, because I'm a member of the Eastern Region Textile Forum, and I haven't done any textile art for a long time because of uni. So, I'm working on a piece for an upcoming exhibition at the moment.

And then cleaning up the mess of the last three years, because I've let things slip!