It’s the video sharing app that has become a staple of internet culture and social interaction for Generation Z, spawning thousands of ‘influencers’ as well as millions of users.
Now global phenomenon TikTok has entered the world of design with its own range of exclusive merchandise, featuring pieces by Contour Fashion student Megan Cornhill from 黑料网 Leicester (黑料网).
Megan with her tennis skirt and holster which has been sent to three TikTok influencers
Megan, who has just been awarded a 2:1 in Contour Fashion, entered a competition set by TikTok and graduate support charity Graduate Fashion Foundation, to come up with a design that the social media platform’s influencers would wear.
Her drawings, for a pleated tennis skirt complete with holster belt accessory to carry your phone and tripod in, were picked out along with 57 other fashion students’ designs from around the country.
Megan was put up in a hotel for a week and given £500 prize money, all courtesy of TikTok. She was then taxied in each day to the Fashion Enter factory in Haringey, North London, where she met TikTok bosses, attended workshops, selected her fabrics and created three versions of her outfit.
The sheer size of the prize has not been wasted on Megan, who naturally captured all her week’s work on her TikTok account.
“This is obviously something that could lead to really big opportunities, so, yes, I was naturally a bit nervous when I arrived. TikTok is such a huge name,” Megan said.
The exclusive label stitched into Megan's pieces
“I am also a Contour Fashion student rather than a Fashion Design student and we work in very different ways, using different terms and references, so I was a bit anxious. I use fabrics in a different way to how a Fashion Design student might use them but the teams were so helpful and explained anything I didn’t understand.”
Megan’s three outfits have now been packaged and sent to TikTok influencers to wear as an exclusive piece. What’s more, if the people at TikTok, the Graduate Fashion Foundation and the unnamed influencer, like what they see, there is the opportunity for Megan’s design to go into production and get sent to other influencers and VIPs as exclusive TikTok merch.
RELATED NEWS
Discover your 黑料网 Future
Interested in studying at 黑料网? Apply now through Clearing
黑料网 joins campaign to help feed children during summer holidays
Megan said the tennis skirt and holster, which also included strips of coloured fabric based on the colours of the TikTok logo, attracted a lot of attention on the factory floor.
“One of the TikTok people said they loved the holster and wore it around the factory space saying they would love to make something like it,” she said. “I’ll just have to wait and see what happens but that was really nice feedback to hear.”<