Ava Gruft is one of only two recipients in 2024 of the prestigious Blanche Macdonald Centre Award for Excellence for Fashion Design.
Every year, up to three outstanding students are presented with the Blanche Macdonald Centre Award for Excellence, and have the chance to debut their collections at the Vancouver Fashion Week. With so many remarkable students coming through the program, choosing these recipients is never an easy task. Many contributing factors go into the selection process: academic achievement, skill, dedication to their craft and the program, growth and equally important, their vision and voice as designers.
These outstanding graduates will have one year’s mentoring with our Blanche Macdonald Centre’s esteemed fashion faculty, access to our facilities and a sponsored show at Vancouver Fashion Week – including sponsored casting from Vancouver’s top modelling agencies.
Showing at an intentional fashion week is a massive step into the industry, getting your work in front of the world’s leading editors and buyers. It’s an achievement many designers don’t realize until much later into their careers… if ever. Suffice to say, this is a massive opportunity.
For her FW/24 collection, Ava Gruft is reconceptualizing what luxury means. Silks, wools, and leather have been embellished with industrial elements creating a subversive world and exposing the material’s precious nature. Each design focuses on contemporary silhouettes, sculpting the female figure with flowing lines and exaggerated shapes. The modern woman brought forth by experimenting with both delicate and rebellious mediums, from spray painting lace onto silk charmeuse, and applying garter belts to tailored suits. Ava’s first-hand experience working in a lingerie factory led her to see the potential in the discarded lace decals, digitizing them into repeating prints throughout her collection, revealing a unique and raw perspective to her brand.
“My experience taking the fashion design program was really eye opening for me, and I learned so much. Getting chosen to be a recipient of this award was a huge honor and gave me reassurance that I was doing something right!”
Leading up to the event, Ava worked closely with Blanche Macdonald Executive Director of Fashion Design, Tyler Udall, Blanche Instructor and eponymous Fashion Designer Evan Clayton, and Blanche Program Manager for Fashion Design & Marketing, Emma Ireland Shepherd, to hone the collection into the ten outstanding pieces presented to an appreciative audience at this year’s Vancouver Fashion Week.
“(Ava's) collection had a polish to it that most designers don’t achieve in their lifetime. Her experimentation with printing and dying accompanied by her exquisite taste in fabrics made for a very impressive debut.”
Tyler shared that Ava Gruft is one of the youngest students Blanche has ever had, a mere 17 when she started the Fashion Design program… a fact he wasn’t aware of until her graduation. He cautions, “Don’t let that number fool you. There is ZERO naiveté with Ava. From our very first meeting, I was blown away by her taste levels and more importantly the sophistication of her designs. She has clearly been paying attention and absorbing a lot of quality fashion. Her collection had a polish to it that most designers don’t achieve in their lifetime. Her experimentation with printing and dying accompanied by her exquisite taste in fabrics made for a very impressive debut.”
