THE fashion world has been mourning the death of Professor Louise Wilson OBE, who has died at the age of 52.
Ms Wilson, who was born in Cambridge but grew up in the Borders and was educated in Jedburgh made her international reputation at Central Saint Martins, at the University of the Arts London.
Among the countless students whose careers she helped shape were Christopher Kane, Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen.
She was reported to have died in her sleep during a visit to her sister in Scotland.
A profile of Ms Wilson three years ago observed that she was "the single most well-known fashion educator, certainly in this country, if not the world."
Central Saint Martins said in a statement that it was "devastated" by news of her death.
It added: "Louise has been an inspirational person both within the college and the wider world of fashion.
"Since becoming Course Director for MA Fashion in 1992 she has taught a huge proportion of the world's leading fashion designers and her course continues to produce talented ground-breaking graduates.
"Her commitment to her students and passion for creative excellence are legendary. Her deep understanding of fashion and her drive for funding for bursaries, facilities and opportunities are part of what made her such an extraordinary educator."
Stella McCartney was one of many figures in fashion who tweeted their condolences.
She wrote: "What an inspiration. I send my deep sympathy to your family. No one will ever replace you because you were a true one off. Louise we will all miss you r.i.p xx stella"
She received an OBE in 2008 for her services to fashion and to education and is survived by her partner Timmi and their son, TJ.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article