Bulwell fashion student's 5 A Day creation wins national design contest for safe sex and AIDS campaign

A fashion design student from Bulwell has won a national competition to create a campaign on safe sex and AIDS awareness.
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Carl Newson, 34, is studying for an art and design degree at Nottingham College and was encouraged to enter the DAA X ARTS Threads Young Creatives Against AIDS contest by one of his tutors.

The brief was to develop designs for a social media campaign on HIV that were engaging and positive.

In response, Carl came up with a series of five t-shirts adorned with pictures of hand-drawn naked men, their modesty artfully maintained by fruit and veg emojis and slogans such as ‘No glove, no love’ and ‘Wrap it before you tap it’.

Bulwell fashion student Carl Newson has won a national design competition with his idea for a safe sex campaign.Bulwell fashion student Carl Newson has won a national design competition with his idea for a safe sex campaign.
Bulwell fashion student Carl Newson has won a national design competition with his idea for a safe sex campaign.

He said: “If we can look at a serious situation with a slight sense of humour, it can be easier to digest and allow people to be confident to ask questions.

“I hope my ‘One of your 5 a day’ slogans are designed in a way to allow conversations to start about safe sex and AIDS, but in a more supportive way.”

Carl’s approach was informed by his experiences as a proud advocate of the LGBTQ+ community, who uses his talent for fashion design to create bespoke costumes for drag queens and burlesque performers.

He said: “A huge part of my personal and professional life has drag at its heart. As a drag artist myself –known as Claire-Leigh Knott – I try to see things bigger, brighter and funnier.”

Carl Newson as drag artist, Claire-Leigh Knott.Carl Newson as drag artist, Claire-Leigh Knott.
Carl Newson as drag artist, Claire-Leigh Knott.

Carl beat tough competition from students across the UK to be crowned winner of the competition by a panel of prestigious judges, and his designs will now be shared worldwide by the Designers Against AIDS initiative.

He said: “I was so excited when I received the news that I had been chosen as the winner and I’m really proud that my designs are being used to help such an important campaign. I would like to thank my lecturers for encouraging me to enter the competition and for being so supportive”

His college tutor, Elizabeth Libor, said: “Carl's designs answered the brief perfectly. He combined his own artwork with a playful approach in terms of the humour of both the visuals and the tag lines which worked brilliantly.”

Carl’s winning designs can be viewed at https://bit.ly/2BMBlf1.

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