Jo Haywood is chuffed to get a sneak preview of the student fashions set to blaze a rail at the NRM.

FLYING Scotsman is used to being the star of the show at the National Railway Museum in York. But it looks set to be upstaged this week by Mary Poppins, Rubber Band Girl and a bunch of Scary Fairies.

These are three of the collections to grace the catwalk at the NRM on Wednesday as part of York College Fashion Show, which acts as the final of the national diploma and higher national diploma fashion courses.

"The show is the best time of the year," said Niki Boyes, 20, from Malton, whose Romantic Victorian collection has scooped the top £500 prize awarded annually by the Merchant Taylors.

"It's great to finally see your clothes on the catwalk."

Her work was inspired by Victorian costume dramas and flamboyant contemporary designers such as Alexander McQueen.

The collection has a distinctly romantic look, with bursts of floral fabric providing an interesting country reference.

Niki is firing off job applications to local theatre companies, but would eventually like to work in TV or film.

"I really loved the costumes in Pirates Of The Caribbean and Troy - they had a real feeling of history about them," she said. "Hopefully I've captured something of that feeling in my collection."

She is looking forward to Wednesday's show with a healthy mixture of nerves and excitement - and she's not the only one.

"My family are really proud of me," said Niki. "I think they're looking forward to the show as much as I am.

"When I told my mum about the Merchant Taylors' award she was ecstatic. She phoned virtually everyone she knew."

Louise Harrison, 20, from York, took the £300 second prize with her collection, Twist Of Nature.

Her elegant clothes are inspired by nature-based art, particularly the work of Japanese artist Hiroko Nakao, and contemporary designers such as Helmut Lang. They also cleverly incorporate literal twists of fabric.

"I like the idea of manipulating fabric," said Louise. "It was different when I first started the course.

"I marched in saying 'I'm not interested in the making, I'm interested in the designing'. The tutors, quite rightly, said 'no way'.

"I'm still not a fan of pattern-cutting, but all the practical skills I've learned along the way made sense when I came to do my final collection. To design clothes properly, you need to know how to make them."

She is hoping to take some time out to go traveling after graduation, but would eventually like to work for a high street giant such as Topshop.

"I love buying clothes," she said, "and I want to design for a company that ordinary people can afford to wear.

"It amazes me how quickly the high street stores can turn around the catwalk looks. I'd like to be involved in that."

While Louise is interested in the mass market, her fellow student Harriet Crossland, 21, from Dalton-on-Tees, likes to focus on one-off, exclusive pieces.

Her collection of ethical fashions, based on recycling and supported by Oxfam, has won her the Merchant Taylors' £200 third prize.

"This is a very pretentious, wasteful industry," she said. "I hope that in a couple of years' time we'll be ready for a change.

"I want to make more of a statement with my clothes. It doesn't have to be about 'look at me', it can be about making people think."

Harriet has secured a job managing the pre- and post-production warehouse at a tailors near Northallerton, but would eventually like to run her own business.

"I'm getting great all-round experience of the industry," she said. "Hopefully, it will all come in handy when I start my own business producing recycled fashion."

Her collection has wool jackets transformed into retro punk skirts and dainty tops made from reincarnated floral duvet covers.

It certainly makes a change from the usual array of trainspotters' anoraks on parade at the NRM.

Updated: 09:12 Saturday, June 25, 2005