Awards&Honours
Fashion graduate wins China Mohair Design Competition WAHEEDA PETERS
In 2016 Leandi Mulder (centre) won the 2016 Emma Smith Art Scholarship Award for her collection made entirely of second hand fabrics.
Fashion and Textiles alumni Leandi Mulder is flying the DUT ‘fashion’ flag high. The budding fashion designer who specialises in sustainably designed women’s wear, and who obtained a scholarship to study at the prestigious Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in China (BIFT), is making her mark in the international fashion industry. She is in China for a year to complete her theory preparation, one year practical and her thesis. BIFT has offered a Masters scholarship to Mulder which covers all tuition, accommodation and a stipend each month. As a student at Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, obtaining a HSK Level 3 Mandarin, was a prerequisite (The CI is equally one of the partners to facilitate the BIFT partnership). Thankfully, with the support of some incredible Mandarin lecturers she reached her goal. “I came to China to complete my Masters in September 2018, making this my eight month at BIFT,” she said. She recently entered a national fashion design competition called the 5th China Mohair Fashion Design Competition. 50 Students were chosen across five Chinese universities to participate in this competition, and she was chosen as the overall winner. “This win has furthermore confirmed that I am where I am meant to be and people are appreciating my work even at an international level. There are so
many talented students at this university, coming from all over China and the rest of the world so standards are high and the competition is tough. I am therefore working hard and constantly appreciative of this great opportunity that has been very generously presented to me,” she said. Mulder also said she has settled into a comfortable routine, and is incredibly positive about the next part of her studies at BIFT.
Fashion and Textiles alumni, Leandi Mulder.
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