A young York fashion designer stars in new competition TV show – and plans to take her designs to New York.
Emily Brookes featured as a contestant on RE/style, a new six-part series that premiered on Prime Video this week, from Lion TV.
The show is an international second-hand fashion competition, that showcases eight fashion designers who go head-to-head to turn pre-loved pieces into showstopping runway looks – with the winning fashion designer taking their entire collection to London Fashion Week.
Emily, who’s 23 and from York, went to Huntington School and York College before attending Birmingham City University to study Fashion Design, which she completed and achieved a First Class degree in July this year.
Emily first found out about RE/Style through her uni. “When I saw that the show was being advertised, I was quite interested but to be honest it was more of a ‘we’ll see what happens, and if nothing comes of it then it’s not the end of the world’.
“I didn’t have any expectations – I just thought it would be really fun and the idea of being on telly is quite exciting.”
After having a couple of interviews about her fashion background and testing her technical and sewing skills, “it was a phone call from one of the support team who told me I got on the show.
“I was shocked, because it was actually the same day I’d handed in a big project at uni. So I was out celebrating that anyway, with some friends. So it became like a double celebration!”
Each episode challenges the designers to turn second-hand clothes into catwalk ready looks, with themes including ‘signature style’, ‘nostalgia’, and ‘denim’.
Emily describes her own style as “‘dopamine dressing’ – I love a bit of colour, I love a bold print.
“But I also think my actual designs in the show, I always like to bring a really technical element. Whether it’s the episode where I added lots of pockets or the third episode, the denim episode, where I was making my jeans out of purely squares.
“I like to bring a new, inventive way of looking at how we can repurpose old clothing or materials, and to make things not look like their original form if I’m upcycling – a complete transformation is what I’m always aiming for.”
The show is hosted by acclaimed presenter and former model Emma Willis, and features expert judges Melissa Holdbrook-Akposoe and Zadrian Smith alongside celebrity guests like Clara Amfo and Laura Whitmore.
“I knew before the show that there was going to be guests, but I didn’t know who until we were on set. So that was really cool, everyone was so nice.”
“Emma was so lovely,” said Emily. “You could tell that she, obviously, has a really strong fashion background, so she was really invested in what we were doing.”
Emma Willis said, “Hosting RE/Style has been an incredible experience; I have loved returning to my fashion roots and have been completely wow-ed by the talent of these emerging fashion designers.”
Emily had an “amazing” experience on the show. “It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done,” she said. “Making things in six hours is not an easy feat to do, but knowing that I can now do it is a bit crazy.
“I think I surprised myself with how well I handled the pressure, because I was really quite nervous before we filmed, and how well I actually was able to still be my natural self and chat to a camera – because it’s not an everyday experience being filmed all the time.”
Another surprise for Emily was “how close all of us got as designers. I’d never met any of these people that I was going down to London to film with before, and as much as I consider myself quite confident with new faces, it was still really kind of overwhelming.
“But by the end of it, when everyone was saying goodbye, we were all getting emotional leaving each other. I felt like I’d known them forever.”
And all the designers have stayed in contact after the show finished. “Obviously some of the designers are not UK based, they’re over in Spain, France, Italy, so it’s been nice to keep in touch with everybody.
“We’re even thinking of a group holiday next year!”
The support from Emily’s friends and family at home has been “absolutely unreal. Even people who I’ve been to school with but haven’t chatted to have been reaching out to me and congratulated me and saying they’re watching the show.”
You’ll have to watch RE/Style to see how Emily does on the show, but she’s already making big plans for the future – including starting her own business. Through the student enterprise at her university, she pitched her business idea and won the prize money to help launch her brand.
“It’s essentially going to be turning waste textiles into new clothing and accessories to give them a new life.”
And that’s not all – as Emily has also launched a fundraiser to get herself to New York Fashion Week. “I’m going to try and take my graduate collection and some new pieces to New York.
“It won’t be until 2027 because I’m going to give myself a nice bit of time to fundraise, but I’ve been posting and shouting about it.”
She’s started a GoFundMe page to help achieve her dream – find out more and make a donation at the fundraising page here.
Keep up to date with Emily and see more of her incredible fashion designs at her Instagram and TikTok.
All episodes of RE/Style are available to watch and stream now on Prime Video.
