Louise Devlin

In 2019, I sponsored Team Scotland in the ‘Miss European Global’ contest. The team consisted of 10 girls and I made bespoke made to measure tartan skirts for the each one of them using Royal Stewart tartan. The girls wore their skirts for promotional events as part of the contest such as this shoot with photographer Brian Hayes.

Team Scotland also wore their custom skirts for travelling down to London for the final of the ‘Miss European Global’ contest.

In Spring 2020, I volunteered with a charity called ‘For the love of Scrubs’ to make scrubs for the NHS following the shortage of these due to the Coronavirus pandemic.  I was provided with material and supplies from Fabric Bazaar.

I made the scrubs in my home sewing studio then another volunteer collected the scrubs and delivered them to hospitals where they were required.

In Spring 2019, I was commissioned to design 3 custom outfits for a luxury false lashes brand called ‘Designer Lashes UK’ for their re-launch promo campaign. I was provided with specific ideas by the brand’s owner. I sketched the designs up and when these were approved, I made them.

This was all done in a very tight timescale but I was very happy with the final outfits. I made a flowing lilac gown, a bodysuit with exaggerated shoulder detail and a knee length tutu skirt with hand sewn floral appliqué. 

One of the models involved in the shoot was former Miss Scotland, Nicola Mimnagh, who wor the lilac gown. The brand had a very successful re-launch and can be found on facebook and instagram

In early 2019, I was nominated for ‘Fashion Designer of the Year’ at the Scotland International Business and Community Awards. I made this dress for the event. The dress featured a fully boned corset, a slit at the front, a slight train at the back and was made using large print Royal Stewart tartan.

The event which was held at the Holiday Inn Hotel at Glasgow Airport and one of my friends, Cosmo, attended it with me. Unfortunately, I didn’t win the award. However, I did win the award for ‘Best Dressed’ which made the night for me.

In March 2018, I was offered the opportunity to show a collection at the Crowne Plaza’s ‘Scotland Pakistan Fashion Week’ event.  Of course I jumped at the offer and made several custom outfits to show. The event showcased various designers and brands from Scotland and Pakistan.

Prior to the show taking place, I was involved in a promotional shoot at Kelvingrove Museum involving other designers.

I got to meet Nicola Sturgeon who was seated front row at the fashion show and even sent me a message after it saying that she loved my designs.

The following day, one of my dresses from the show was printed in the Sunday Mail alongside a feature of the show.

Not long after I had graduated from studying Fashion Design, I was contacted by a stylist who asked to feature one of my designs in a photoshoot. I made this striped skater dress for the shoot and it was published in the Scotland on Sunday’s Spectrum Magazine.

My designs have been featured in various online publications. One of these is Salyse, which is an online magazine that included a shoot in one of their issues which involved several outfits I have made. They titled the feature ‘Devlin Designs in Dundee’.

Photoshoot magazine is very popular with professional & amateur photographers and other similar creatives. They featured a project I was involved in with two other designers, two photographers and three models.

The magazine interviewed us all individually and printed some photos from the project’s photoshoot.

My love of making tartan gowns started when I made a collection for a fashion show at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh. I saw an advert posted on Facebook regarding a ‘Young Designers’ competition. I sent an email application to take part with some fashion illustrations and info about myself. I was chosen as a finalist and was provided with fabric from one of the competition’s sponsors.

I made a miniature collection consisting of 4 gowns. I was a runner up in the final of the contest and this event was the start of my dressmaking career.

The red tartan dress I made for this event has been one of my most popular designs so far and is still purchased frequently.

It was featured in some newspaper and magazine publications following the show such as this clipping alongside another Scottish Designer – Siobhan MacKenzie.