Mum came too

The phrase "like mother, like daughter" could have been coined with Charlotte and Linda Riding in mind. Both love clothes, both are handy with a sewing machine and both are graduating from York College this term after studying fashion design for two years. Not many daughters would relish the thought of their mum coming to college with them, but 18-year-old Charlotte was quite happy when Linda applied for a place on the same course at the same time.

"We have always got on well and we have always worked together," she says. "My friends on the course always say how lucky I am to have my mum here, and I am. It's really nice. Anyway, some days we are so busy we don't see each other."

Linda, Charlotte and her older sister Sarah-Jayne (now studying to become a nurse in Huddersfield) used to work together in a caf in Bridlington, where they lived before moving to North Yorkshire when they secured places on the York College fashion course.

"We miss the sea and our friends, but that's about it," says Charlotte. "Brid is nice, but it didn't have the opportunities we wanted."

Opportunities that were certainly not available to Linda when she left school.

"There weren't any courses for people such as me," says the 43-year-old mum-of-two. "You had to go straight out to work, then get married and have children. It was what everybody did."

She was always interested in dressmaking and taught herself to be a seamless seamstress by making clothes for friends and family. She had been thinking about making a change in her life, and when Charlotte started looking through college prospectuses, she did too.

"I was ready for something new," she says. "The caf was on the brink of being taken over and both my daughters had left school and were becoming more independent. There were no excuses for not following my dream anymore."

Both got an interview at York College on the same day and both secured a place - Charlotte on a National Diploma course and Linda on a Higher National Diploma because of her previous experience and sewing skills.

After two years, the Ridings are now ready to show the world - well, the York public at least - their designs as part of the graduate show in the Macmillan sports hall at the Tadcaster Road college on Friday.

Charlotte's designs have a Vegas showgirl theme, with feathers, sequins and high-kicking side splits, while Linda has taken her inspiration from a much more demure source: David Bowie.

"Maybe I'm showing my age, but I just love the way he looked in the early years," she says. "There is one particular quilted suit that he wore that has really influenced my designs."

Charlotte, whose influences include Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood, has discovered a love of theatrical costume design during her two years at York College and is starting a course in Hull in September that should help propel her into a career in the theatre.

Linda, who has more of a minimalist style, admiring the sparse, serene designs emanating from the East (no, not East Yorkshire - Japan), is transferring to a college in Doncaster at the beginning of next term to top-up her diploma into a full degree. After that she is hoping to set up her own business, designing alternative bridal wear.

All of which means, of course, that the Ridings are finally parting company.

"With Charlotte in Hull and Sarah-Jayne in Huddersfield, I'm going to have to get used to being by myself," says Linda. "The house is going to feel very big without them."

Amy-Louise Murray is also taking part in Friday's student fashion show, and will be leaving York College this term £500 the richer after winning first prize in a £1,000 competition funded by the Merchant Taylors.

Another fan of the theatrical designs of Vivienne Westwood, she hopes to make a career for herself in films - making the costumes, not saying the lines.

"I go and see a film and end up watching the clothes," says the Jarrow-born 20-year-old. "I really loved the costumes in the Lord Of The Rings, and more recently I haven't been able to take my eyes off the clothes in Troy and Van Helsing."

Designing costumes for films is a very different discipline to designing for the catwalk, but something about the transient nature of the clothes seems to appeal to Amy-Louise.

"And I'd get to meet some stars," she adds. Yes, there is that too.

Chris Bowman, the only male student showing this year, is not in the business of design to meet stars or win money, even though he took the £200 third prize in the Merchant Taylors' competition. In fact, it's a miracle he's in it at all.

"I was never particularly fashion-conscious when I was younger," he says. "I was always a bit of a tracksuit and trainers boy."

He didn't want to leave his native Middlesbrough when he left school because of a long-term girlfriend, so he enrolled at art college. He then went on to university to do computer game design, but that didn't really fire his imagination.

Seeking inspiration further afield, he discovered the York fashion design course and managed to secure a last-minute place.

"When I first came here I did not have a clue about using a sewing machine," says Chris. "Now you can't get me out of the sewing room."

Which begs the obvious question: isn't sewing frocks a bit girly for a hot-blooded northern lad?

"My sister is 14 and her friends all say I must be a bit of a poof to do fashion," he says.

"But look at me; I get to work with girls all day long. Not bad, is it?"

York College Fashion Show takes place on Friday in the Macmillan Sports Hall at the Tadcaster Road college. Performances start at 1.30pm (for schools) and 7.30pm. Tickets, cost £5 and are available by ringing 01904 770290.

Updated: 08:54 Tuesday, June 29, 2004