Staff spotlight on the latest addition to our BA (Hons) Fashion degree department Lecturer Steph Greenwood who joins us from an illustrious career that has seen her work her way up the industry in ateliers, design teams, garment tech, production, marketing and sales. Her varied experience has developed a well-rounded view of working across ready-to-wear, couture, custom-made and e-commerce.

With over nine years of industry experience working in London, Berlin, Brighton, and the North East Steph is bringing her vital experience to our studios and students. Steph started her career with international fashion house Erdem she commented “I started my graduate career at Erdem and was able to work with them for London Fashion Week and on set photoshoots across London, it taught me vital time management and creative thinking skills and I had the opportunity to work on amazing collections and learn lots from the team.”

During at her time at Erdem she worked high profile projects, she said “I was fortunate to work on custom MET Gala looks through my time at Erdem for clients such as Glenn Close, Rachel Brosnahan, Kristen Scott Thomas and Felicity Jones. It was great to view and be part of the process for what it takes for a design house to create custom looks for the MET.” Steph even had the opportunity to work with royalty she said “I had the opportunity of working on custom pieces for Catherine, Princess of Wales while I was at Erdem including finishing details such as hand finished brand labels.”

Reflecting on her career highlights she commented “aside from getting to work amongst fashion industry titans like being around Anna Wintour at Fashion Week I’ve met some amazing talented people in the industry who continue to inspire and fuel my passion and drive.”

Steph also had the massive opportunity to work on a collection for the Wednesday Netflix series she explained “I was working as a designer on those projects with the wider design and creative team, it was a great opportunity to utilise graphic assets into a fashion alternative collaboration especially getting to work on the Wednesday collection before the series had come out!”

Speaking on why she decided to return to the school as a lecturer she said “I’m excited to return to my roots, having studied the college-level fashion course at Middlesbrough, and teach the students everything I’ve learned in industry so they are well equipped with a professional skillset by the time they graduate.  I’m here to bring a real taste of industry to the course, along with bringing exciting and relevant industry contacts and insider knowledge for careers. I’d love to push the digital design side of fashion to set students up for the future of fashion.”

When asked what her advice was for students looking to break in to industry she said “start each day with a positive can-do mind set and always be open for opportunities as they can lead to some amazing career moments you wouldn’t have planned!”

If you are interested in a career in the fashion industry make sure you check out our degree page here. Future students can also find out more about the course and school by booking on an open day where you can speak to staff and students, check out studios, campus and find out a little more about what it’s like to study in Hartlepool, book your place today!