Thursday 6th June 2013 sees the glittering launch night of luxury Scottish womenswear brand, Joanne McGillivray. McGillivray will showcase her debut collection at the event, held in Glasgow’s exclusive Club 29.

McGillivray may just be launching her first full collection, but she has already gained a fantastic introduction to the fashion industry. Graduating with a BA Honours in Fashion Design for Industry from Herriot Watt, McGillivray’s graduate collection saw her shortlisted for the 2012 Scottish Fashion Awards’ Graduate of the Year category. The graduate was given a brief as part of her bid to win the coveted title; to design a dress to be sold in Marks & Spencer’s Limited range. McGillivray presented her design to a panel of judges including Scottish Fashion Awards founder Tessa Hartmann, Daily Telegraph Fashion Editor, Hilary Alexander and M&S Director of Communications, Dominic Fry. Her design was chosen and, along with her impressive stand-out graduate collection, McGillivray was chosen as winner of  the Graduate of the Year award. As part of her prestigious win, McGillivray landed a 6 week M&S internship, working alongside the head of design for the Limited range on the new season collection. McGillivray also used her time at M&S to develop and adapt her dress design to fit in with the M&S consumer, understanding the importance of selecting the perfect fabric and colour. McGillivray’s winning dress design will be stocked within the Limited range at M&S this summer. Tessa Hartmann says of the young designer "Joanne is one of those exciting new labels where one can see her enormous potential from her relentless hunger and ambition. This combined with her innovative design approach makes her set for exciting things ahead."

McGillivray has also gained further experience, working with London based designer, Kinder Aggugini on his high end collections. She assisted Aggugini on three full collections as well as two London Fashion Week shows and Aggugini’s prestigious collaboration with the English National Ballet, even hand making a tutu which was sold at auction. Not only has McGillivray experienced the design side of fashion, the young designer also worked as a Personal Shopper in Selfridges, London giving a terrific first hand insight into the needs and wants of consumers. This invaluable experience has given McGillivray a wealth of knowledge within the industry, which she has applied to her brand and debut collection.

McGillivray has a clear brand vision – to create a contemporary, premium collection of garments for the high end of the womenswear market which, ultimately, are wearable. Describing her pieces as ‘for women who are classical and feminine – in style but also design aware’, McGillivray is fully aware of her consumer type and focused on the quality her garments must emulate. Each garment applies this aspect of luxury, with clean cut, classic silhouettes. McGillivray’s brand philosophy sees her designs not conforming to follow fashion’s ever changing fads or trends, but creating an understated style unique to the Joanne McGillivray image.

The June launch is being held in lavish members club, Club 29 in Glasgow’s Royal Exchange Square, with even the indulgent venue being reflective of McGillivray’s brand image. Guests will preview the Autumn/Winter collection with a catwalk show and McGillivray’s fashion film created especially for the event. The collection itself saw McGillivray draw inspiration from a fascinating trip to St Petersburgh, Russia. In awe of the city’s history, the young Scottish designer’s strong textiles background led her to take great interest in the tapestry’s shown in the Hermitage museum. McGillivray took her main muse from these reworked tapestry’s, creating her own powerful, striking prints. These unique prints create a beautiful detail to McGillivray’s simple, yet stylish garment shapes.  The high level of quality in each garment, as well as the clean cut lines and harmonizing colour palette combine to create a powerful debut collection.

With such a strong brand identity and hotly anticipated collection, McGillivray has big plans for the future of her brand. McGillivray visualizes her collections stocked in high end department stores and luxury retailers, epitomizing the brand’s high standard values. Not stopping at solely supplying the United Kingdom with her ready-to-wear collection, McGillivray has set the brand’s sights to expand internationally, catering to consumers worldwide. With such a design led determination this brand looks set to make a great impact on the fashion industry.