City’s jute past helps designer win top award

High-end Juteopolis range created after research visit

A designer inspired by Dundee’s jutemanufacturing history has joined the likes of Alexander McQueen and Simone Rocha after winning a prestigious fashion award.

Nicholas Daley, whose mother, Maureen, is from the city, has been named as a recipient of the New Gen award by the British Fashion Council, after impressing judges with his Juteopolis menswear collection.

Nicholas spent hours in the city’s reference library, trawling through archive photographs and materials in search of inspiration.

The young designer, who graduated from renowned art school Central St Martin’s in 2013, also embraced his family’s Dundonian past as part of his designs – with two generations of ancestors having worked in Dundee jute mills.

The Juteopolis collection “reinterprets” the history of the unconventional fashion material, according to Nicholas, which “explores the role of industrial production within culture”.

Proud mother Maureen said: “We came up to Dundee and he spent a great deal of time in the reference library in the Wellgate, looking at old photos of the mills and studying the history of jute manufacturing,” she said.

“The staff at the library were so helpful, they had searched out lots of materials for Nicholas to look through. They really were fantastic.”

So inspired by Dundee’s textile past was he, Nicholas employed local companies to supply him with materials for his collection, including Angus twine manufacturers Nutscene 1922.

Nutscene director Laura Clark said: “It is also both excellent and encouraging to see how our jute-based products can be utilised in an entirely different arena – the world of fashion and textile design.”

Nicholas, above, is working on his collection for London Fashion Week, to be held in June.