FASHION student Natalie Roux looked to the grim past to help find a happy future in the final of a national competition.

The bedroom of her home in Ripon overlooks Gallow Hill, a site of executions in the time of Mary I.

It was Bloody Mary who provided the inspiration for her designs in the Cancer Research Campaign and Dylon Recycled Fashion Show.

Entrants had to use at least 50 per cent of unsaleable material from one of the charity's shops and Dylon dyes and paints to create an innovative and sexy outfit.

Natalie took some black velvet curtains to create an executioner's cape, embroidered it in gold thread and sewed on 3,400 beads. Beneath the cape she created a revealing outfit from recycled red and white underwear, worn with tartan tights.

Natalie's efforts have won her a place in the contest's final, to be held in London next month.

"I'm really excited," she said. "I didn't think I had a chance of getting through at all.