MARY BENSON

19 year old Mary Benson has worked for designers such as Alexander McQueen and Richard Nicoll. She is currently working as a designer with a team consisting of model, hairdresser and MUA for the second year running at the L'Oreal Colour Awards after showing her garment at last years final on the catwalk at Earl's Court, London. She has just worked throughout London Fashion Week for Vauxhall Fashion Scout, helping to book models for the shows and various other backstage and front of house jobs, following that she continued on to work for Vivienne Westwood's Gold Label, at Paris Fashion Week.

Her designs have been featured in Drapers, 180 Mag, POSI+TIVE, Style Bubble, The Guardian, BBC Television, Betty Magazine and so on. Her S/S 09 Collection was viewed by Christopher Bailey at Yorkshire Fashion Week. Owning her own boutique 'Pieces of Eight' at the age of 18, and appearing on 'Mary Queen of Shops' at the age of 17 working alongside Mary Portas, she has had a lot of business experience which has helped considerably, giving a real insight into the business side of fashion design: working within a budget, pricing goods, meeting deadlines, liaising with buyers, and building a reputation.

Mary is currently in her first year studying BA Fashion Design at The University of Westminster after finishing her National Diploma and Foundation Studies at Leeds College of Art. She is very interested in meeting new people to work with and learning more about the fashion industry.