UCA Rochester students customising boiler suits for James May's Man Lab

TV presenter James May has asked students from UCA Rochester to help him out for a new BBC programme.

The Top Gear favourite challenged fashion students at UCA Rochester to customise a collection of boiler suits - which he believes are the only outfit a man needs – for the new series of James May's Man Lab.

Fashion Design Course Leader, Donna Ives said: "Working with James May and his show was a really exciting experience for our students. Not only did they get to work to a fast paced, exciting and unusual brief, but they will also have their work seen by a huge TV audience. The standard of production was very high, despite the tight four-day turnaround and we are very proud with how they got on."

Three students from UCA Rochester are also in with a chance of winning the top award at Graduate Fashion Week (GFW) 2011, after impressing the judges on Monday.

BA (Hons) Fashion Design students Jacqueline Loekito and Laura Lynn, plus Lyudmila Lane, who is studying BA (Hons) Fashion Manufacture & Management, will return to London's Earls Court tomorrow to find out if they have made the Gala Show, which puts ten students within touching distance of the prestigious Gold Award and a cash prize of £20,000.

Jacqueline Loekito, whose collection is strongly influenced by 'Life after death,' said: "It's absolutely amazing to reach this stage of the competition – I feel very honoured. I always thought I had a good collection but that's mainly because I made it, so it's really special to receive credit at such a major event."

Donna said: "It's amazing to have three collections selected for the next round of Graduate Fashion Week. The students work so hard for this event – they hand their garments in to us with big bags under their eyes – but you can see on the catwalk that they are perfectionists and everything is meticulously cut and made, which is something that we are very proud of."

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2011, GFW showcases the best BA Graduate fashion design talent in the UK and UCA Rochester is no stranger to success there – Myrto Stamou beat 300 hopefuls to win the overall Gold Award in 2009. After being crowned the best young fashion designer in the country, she was asked to recreate two of her dresses for River Island, who sold her designs nationwide, and has just launched her own fashion label in Greece.