A graduate from Cleveland College of Art and Design (CCAD), who set up her own costume business in 2014, has worked with fellow art students to create a series of colourful outfits which were showcased as part of this year’s Newcastle Christmas Lights festivities.

22-year-old Lauren Deal from Carlisle, but now lives in Hartlepool, graduated from the specialist art and design college in 2014 with a first class degree in costume design, now manages The Northern Costumiers and invited costume degree students Shannon Garland and Fran Stockell to gain valuable industry experience to help make four outfits based on the characters Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay from the Disney musical fantasy film ‘Descendants’.

The costumes were created for popular party planner, Ginger Parties, who contacted The Northern Costumiers with the order. The outfits were then featured as part of the Christmas festivities at intu Eldon Square, with seasonal activities including a singing competition for the young shoppers to enjoy and take part in.

The costume shop, which also offers sewing and seamstress services, was set up last year by Lauren and is already proving to be a success, so Lauren was delighted to be able to give the opportunity to learn from a real business brief to students from her former college.

She said: “It has been great fun to work with Shannon and Fran. I hope that they enjoyed their experience and seeing the costumes all complete and on show. It was nice to be able to give something back to the college, as I really enjoyed my time at CCAD, especially the close working atmosphere and the excellent range of facilities. The business is going really well and it was fantastic to be part of the festive event working for Ginger Parties.”

Fran Stockell, 45, from Eston in Middlesbrough is currently on the second year of her degree in Costume Interpretation with Design, which she is studying at CCAD’s university-level campus in Hartlepool. She said: “Working with Lauren was very inspiring, especially to see one of our own students doing so well in the costume industry. We were honoured to be asked to work with The Northern Costumiers and gained so much from the experience, and seeing the costumes finished was so rewarding.”

Fellow student Shannon Garland, 20 from Brotton near Saltburn who is also on the course, added: “We enjoyed taking the time out of our study to put our skills into practice. The opportunity gave Fran and me the chance to work with new materials which we may not have selected in our work. Working under pressure to a deadline gave us the understanding of what working in the costume industry will be like.”

Christine Dowling, founder of Ginger Parties, said: “We contacted Lauren after a recommendation and we only had two weeks to get the set of costumes. Lauren accepted the job and delivered on time with a very professional presentation, giving us lots of options to work within our budget. When she delivered the set we were absolutely blown away with the standard and finishing. A brilliant job and we will be back for more.”

The Northern Costumiers has produced Cinderella and Super Girl costumes for Make My Day Events, an entertainment company based in Sunderland and winner of the Best Children’s Entertainer in the UK 2015.