IS it a bird, is it a plane – or is it an amazing dress from the creative geniuses at York College’s fashion school?

The talented students have been wielding their dressmaking scissors and stitching into the wee small hours to get their end-of-year collections ready for their catwalk show tomorrow.

Many designs display a flight of fancy and none more so than the incredible creation from Thai student Waeodao Carnac, which looks like it belongs to the set of a Narnia movie.

The 27-year-old’s collection is called Before I Fly and the showpiece is a stunning dress complete with cape-link wings and a feathered bodice.

Waeodao, who works full-time as a nurse at York Hospital and has completed her foundation degree in fashion in her spare time, said her work was inspired by travel – including recent trips to Paris and Rome, where she bought material for her collection.

“I love travelling and the inspiration for this dress comes from birds and aeroplanes,” she said.

National Diploma students on the fashion course interpreted the theme of earth, water and fire into their catwalk designs.

Cathy Davy, 18, from Carlton, near Goole, took photos of tree branches in York and turned them into a print for a range of dresses, calling her collection, Barking Up The Wrong Tree. Her highlight is a full-length evening dress, with netting on the flared hem.

Maintaining the earth theme is Sarah Busfield, 18, from York, with her Hunters And Harris designs, inspired by her grandad, Dave. “He has been a big influence on my life. He always had me doing stuff. He was a mechanic and used to wear workwear with big pockets,” said Sarah.

Large pockets and back packs have been stitched into Sarah’s collection, which mixes tweeds and cottons. The tailoring is exquisite, with cream cotton shirts trimmed with tweed collars and cuffs.

This year sees the first clutch of graduates from the college’s BA (Hons) Fashion Design course.

They will be showing their final collections alongside work by students on the National Diploma and Foundation Degree courses at a catwalk show at York Racecourse tomorrow.