　　As Edinburgh’s first online fashion week nears its grand finale, local designers have already stepped up to the style plate to congratulate its success.
　　Organised by Napier University student Gary Anderson, 27, the event has spent the last few days showcasing the city’s top stores, graduates and local designers as part of an ambitious project to put Edinburgh on the fashion map.
　　“Gary knocked on my door and asked me if I wanted to take part and I said yes immediately,” said city designer Alison Harm.
　　“I’d known Gary for a while, from the earlier local fashion shows that he’d put on and even from then I saw something in him that made me feel it would be a good idea to support him.
　　“I remember going home to my husband and saying that I could see that this was a lad who was going somewhere fast and I had to be on the journey with him.”
　　Owner and designer for her own local business Psychomoda, Alison, 47, is a graduate of the Edinburgh College of Art.
　　“When I left I set up a knitwear design business from home and sold various items at craft fairs around the city,” she explains.
　　“I then opened Psychomoda, around 20 years ago now, and I’ve loved it. I like helping my clients, it’s great to be able to work with them to find a style and a design that’s right for them and that they feel comfortable with.
　　“I try to get inside their head to get a vague idea of what they want. Some want to push the boat out completely and have a complete re-style, while others want a variation of the style that their used to.”
　　“I have a wide age group of people coming in, from 16 year olds looking for a prom dress to a mother of the bride looking for something special for her daughter’s wedding day and it’s lovely to work with them all.”
　　“I have my own stuff too of course, like the range I showcased for Edinburgh Online Fashion Week,” Alison adds. “I’m heavily influenced in Scottish textiles at the moment so will be going more into that direction over the coming months.
　　“I’ve absolutely loved taking part in the show, its been fantastic and the group of young people that Gary has gathered around him are lovely and really talented.
　　They made me feel really welcome – they’re a really lovely bunch of people.
　　“I’d do the Edinburgh Online Fashion Week again in a heartbeat if they asked me to; it’s a great idea for the city.”
　　It’s the city that Gary has had at the heart of his idea all along, as he explains: “The whole principal behind this was to support local business and highlight the fashion industry in Edinburgh. It puts the city on the map, increases the profile of local businesses and shows just how much fashion we have in our capital city.
　　“It is such a challenging economic environment so anything we can do to support our local shops is fantastic.”
