To some, the idea of using leopard print to explain apartheid might seem strange, but as superstar designer Christopher Bailey says, the importance of Graduate fashion week has never been been more significant. As the event celebrates its 25th birthday, Burberry’s CEO Bailey – who took home GFW’s first ever prize in 1991 – says: “It provides graduates with vital recognition and, in so doing, it can become the catalyst to start an exciting career path. That was certainly my experience and I have seen it do the same for many others.”

Yorkshire-born Bailey, who worked for Donna Karan and Gucci before joining Burberry in 2001, was a University of Westminster graduate when he took home the gold at the first staging of the talent showcase. “It’s an incredibly valuable platform,” he says.

Christopher Bailey’s graduate show piece, 1991. Photograph: Iain R Webb​ ​

GFW began after designer and founder Jeff Banks received a letter from a lecturer pointing out that fashion graduates from outside the capital were not getting the same industry attention and opportunities as their London counterparts. And so the gala event, brings together the work of more than 40 schools from across the country (as well as 20 international ones), with competitors hoping the event will result in a job.

Bailey cites the qualities of “raw talent and an ability to challenge convention” in prospective employees, while International Vogue editor Suzy Menkes says the most employable type of student is one who has the ability to turn a brainwave into a buck. “It’s rare to see fledgling designers with soaring imaginations, yet to find that they are fashion newbies who also mean business,” she says.

At the same time, there’s an ongoing issue with the number of students studying fashion versus the employment opportunities available. Osman Ahmed, who graduated from St Martins last year says: “There are 8,000 womenswear fashion graduates alone, not counting menswear. There aren’t the jobs available.”

Courtney Simon’s graduate collection. Photograph: Bettina Strenske

Still, this hasn’t dampened the design ambitions of 2016’s graduating class, who have used their personal lives in their collections. Courtney Simon from the University of Northumberland, combines leopard print, print and a patchwork print effect, and was inspired by her Ghanaian family’s struggle with apartheid. “I wanted to represent the struggles that people went through,” she said of her Real Reflective Roots collection, “but in a new, fun and exhilarating way.”

Bianca von Stempel, a partially sighted designer from Kingston University, says her collection, Tactility (dresses nodding to the 18th century and featuring braille dots) was inspired by a quote from Helen Keller (“the only thing worse than blindness is having sight but no vision”).

A piece from Bianca von Stempel’s graduate collection. Photograph: Ezzidin Alwan

Bailey believes the UK fashion school system is uniquely framed to fire students’ imaginations. “It’s an environment that drives young designers to try new ideas without feeling like they have to fit into a predetermined way of doing things. In Britain, there is always a hunger for new ideas that break with convention.”

As part of the 25-year celebrations, it was recently announced that pioneering punk designer Dame Vivienne Westwood would join as a lifetime patron, with the GFW ethical award being renamed the Vivienne Westwood Ethical award. The appointment is seen as a reaffirmation of Westwood’s position as a supporter of sustainable living. “Buy less, choose well, make it last. If people only bought beautiful clothes, that would be a climate revolution,” she told Vogue. Westwood joins Bailey, iconic photographer Nick Knight and Victoria Beckham as patrons.