Fashion student wins gold award

Myrto Stamou won £20,000 and a chance to show her work in London

A Medway fashion student who beat off 300 other competitors in a design contest has won £20,000 and a chance to show her work in central London.

Myrto Stamou, from the University for the Creative Arts (UCA), won gold for her women's clothing collection at this year's Graduate Fashion Week.

The 23-year-old's work will be shown in the shop window of River Island's flagship store in Oxford Street.

Former UCA fashion graduates include Zandra Rhodes and Karen Millen.

'Childhood dream'

Ms Stamou, described by her tutors as quiet and unassuming, was given her award by Caryn Franklyn, presenter for the Clothes Show.

Guests included Jeff Banks, Sir Stuart Rose, Zandra Rhodes and models, Claudia Schiffer and Erin O'Connor.

River Island chief executive Richard Bradbury said Myrto's collection was elegant and beautiful and showed a clear vision.

Ms Stamou, who has dreamed about working in fashion since she was a child, said: "I was confident that my collection was good, but I never expected to win.

"Usually quite outrageous designs have been known to win. My collection tried to be creative but the garments were designed to be very wearable."

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Myrto Stamou said her dream of working in fashion was coming true