Fashion: The shopping centre which has become a showcase for cutting-edge Yorkshire designers

Jasmine dress, Â£185, Bo Carter, whose range is available at the Fashion Pony store at Bradford Broadway and on www.bocarter.co.uk.

Young designers are turning heads at Yorkshire's newest shopping centre by saddling up with Fashion Pony, writes Stephanie Smith.

Milan, Paris, New York, London and Bradford. Yes, Bradford, because the West Yorkshire city is stepping up to play a leading role as a showcase of cutting edge fashion design.

That Yorkshire is a hotbed of design talent cannot be disputed (Burberry genius Christopher Bailey is from Halifax, of course), but still, for many talented young fashion designers, London is their only option if they want to be taken seriously, unless they get an offer from another of the world’s fashion capitals.

Fashion Pony is a website and online store that provides a platform for independent designers, mostly from Yorkshire, by promoting and selling their creations online. The name is a play on clothes horse and it was founded in 2010 by fashion lovers Dawn Hunter and Victoria Reddington, both originally from Barnsley. Victoria went to the University of Sheffield, and then worked at an advertising agency, specialising in fashion marketing, while Dawn studied law at Sheffield Hallam University. But one night, while ruminating on their careers, they found they were bemoaning the lack of fresh, affordable, local fashion and came up with the idea of starting a website that showcased new talent.

hite jumpsuit, Â£75, Isaac Ava at Fashion Pony,

Last month, six years after its launch, Fashion Pony stepped into the bricks-and-mortar world of retailing by taking a shop in Yorkshire’s newest shopping centre, The Broadway Bradford. There it presents and sells womenswear, menswear and childrenswear from 13 fashion designers from Bradford, Leeds and Huddersfield, including new womenswear label Isaac Ava, Dawn and Victoria’s own creation (it’s named after their children).

Victoria says: “We’ve always designed pieces but never brought them together as a collection. The response has been incredible. We were the only British fashion brand invited to showcase on the catwalk during New York City Fashion Week and we have also been invited to show our spring/summer collection at Vancouver Fashion Week in October.

“People love the bespoke nature of Fashion Pony in that we’ve got the designers working in the shop at The Broadway, so if people like the designs they can talk to the designers about creating something in a different colour, or making something individual for them.”