Announcing the winner of Fashion Textile Maker of the Year Award 2025

11 January 2026, by Dr Babette Radclyffe-Thomas

In this week's blog post, we announce the winner of the Fashion Textile Maker of the Year Award 2025, a collaboration between the Costume Society and Heritage Crafts.

We are happy to share that Rachel Frost won the 2025 Heritage Crafts Fashion Textiles Maker of the Year Award, supported by the Costume Society, including a £2,000 prize and trophy awarded at a special presentation at Wentworth Woodhouse on 17 November 2025.

The award celebrates a heritage craftsperson who has made an outstanding contribution to fashion textiles over the past year. It recognises a contribution that is far beyond the ordinary, based on a proven dedication to a particular fashion textiles skill.

Rachel Frost is a self-taught, multidisciplinary artist and historian who creates both historical and contemporary headwear and accessories for the fashion, film, theatre, television and museum industries. Driven by a passion for British heritage crafts and early fashion, she creates both historical and contemporary headwear and bags using a wide range of techniques. The Fashion Textiles Maker of the Year trophy was made by Guilia Mio Millinery and is crafted from exquisite black vintage glass long beads that provide a subtle shimmer. Two delicate black quills at each end balance the design, giving the headpiece an ethereal Gothic appearance.

The judging panel for the award included Philip Warren and Costume Society Vice Chair Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas.

The two other finalists for the award were Claire Hunter, a distinguished Scottish textile designer and handweaver dedicated to preserving Scotland’s textile heritage through both weaving and kilt making, and Chloe Savage, an embroider trained at the Royal School of Needlework and École Lesage who uses her craft to support community initiatives, including developing skills for vulnerable women.

Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas, Vice Chair of the Costume Society, said: “The Costume Society is delighted to award the Fashion Textile Maker of the Year Award for the second year in collaboration with Heritage Crafts. The award and bursaries extend the Costume Society’s mission to support the study and promotion of historic and contemporary dress by enhancing and protecting the skills of makers that are so central to fashion textiles. These opportunities are made possible by a legacy from founder member Anne Thomas, who worked tirelessly to celebrate excellence in makers and making.”

 

 

The Fashion Textiles Maker of the Year award is part of our ongoing collaboration with Heritage Crafts, the advocacy body for traditional heritage crafts. Working in partnership with government and key agencies, Heritage Crafts provides a focus for craftspeople, groups, societies and guilds, as well as individuals who care about the loss of traditional crafts skills, working towards a healthy and sustainable framework for the future. Its aim is to support and promote heritage crafts as a fundamental part of our living heritage.

Our collaboration with Heritage Crafts also supports training bursaries, which were awarded in 2025 to two emerging fashion textile makers. Megan Graham is a designer and design historian from Belfast. Her bursary will go towards her training in advanced pattern cutting and product development, guided by pattern cutter and dressmaker Manuel Vadillo. About the bursary award, Megan said: “This funding from Heritage Crafts is invaluable. It gives me the space to explore and extract stories from historical archives and overlooked objects, breathing new life into what’s often seen as intangible history. It allows me to deeply engage with the processes of pattern cutting and draping, using modern tailoring techniques to reinterpret and deconstruct historical dress into pieces the celebrate craftsmanship of the past and present.”

Designer Ryan Rix, from Swansea, will train in bespoke tailoring at the Tailoring Academy in Macclesfield, Cheshire. Beyond this, he will secure a job in high-end fashion, theatre, or film, before taking on his long-term ambition of working as a self -employed tailor. Ryan also plans to continue the work of Heritage Crafts in his personal practice, looking to share his expertise to teach future tailors. Ryan explained how “securing funding to use for my craft practice and training is really exciting and a step in a great direction!”.

You can read more about this years' bursaries in our recent blog post.

This article also appeared in the Costume Society members' magazine, The Thread, which members receive bi-annually and can access online. Find out more about becoming a member here.