Last night, I had the pleasure of attending the Danier Design Challenge presentation, an exciting competition where Ryerson's budding third-year fashion students vie for a chance to have their leather jacket design in Danier stores. I saw the final step of the process—11 designers and their leather creations—but in the months before, each garment went from sketch to muslin prototype with designs getting weeded out along the way.

The winning design, by Chantelle Hastick.

The winning piece was created by Chantelle Hastick and was inspired by artist Ai Weiwei and his work titled "Straight," an installation made from salvaged school building supplies from the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, in which more than 5,000 children died. A commercially viable version of her design will be part of Danier's fall 2014 collection. She also won $5,000.

My personal favourite was created by Hamish Thwaites and reminded me of an African safari jacket crossed with a 1940s hiking coat for the Swiss Alps. I was pretty close. It was inspired by safari jackets in Raja Deendayal's photographs. The look took third prize and a $2,000 cheque.

The third place design (on the left), by Hamish Thwaites (right).

Click to watch concept videos of all the designs.