Degree of excellence: Yi Fang Wan is a new winner in the world of fashion

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10 April 2012

Graduates from earlier years have included Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Stella McCartney and Hussein Chalayan. Now 25-year-old Yi Fang Wan from southern China looks set to follow in the footsteps of other Central Saint Martins alumni with an illustrious fashion career.

She was awarded the L'Oréal Professionel Young Designer Award at the college's BA Fashion degree show last night.

Imagining the working classes of the industrial revolution as her inspiration, she sent a romantic collection of hessian and torn silk down the catwalk at Bethnal Green's York Hall.

Combining beige and pale pink, draped skirts were teamed with smocked blouses bearing huge ruched detail, while an elegant, Grecian-inspired gown featured a carefully crafted ball of knotted silk.

The winner said today she was "very happy", both to receive the award, and to have attended the same college as her hero, McQueen, 40, who hanged himself in February.

She paid tribute to her office worker parents who funded her three-year course: "They had to work extra hours and used some of their savings, even though they don't know anything about fashion."

She worked as an intern for London-based label Preen during her studies, but is now looking for a job. The St Martin's degree shows are closely watched by the industry and previous winners of the award now work for leading names including Dior and Versace. There were more outlandish contemporaries among the 40 graduates.

Menswear designer Alex Mullins was awarded a runner-up prize for his brightly coloured, circus-inspired shirts, wacky headgear and oversized jackets, while Tahri Roque raised eye-brows with her barely there inflatable swimwear. The show was closed by the whimsical designs of Sorcha O'Raghallaigh, displayed by models wearing stilts.

The Central Saint Martins BA show marks the first in a series of graduate fashion productions due to take place in London this week.

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