SADIE
CLAYTON
Sadie
Clayton aka Copper Girl always wants to add the notion of power and
femininity to her designs. She has been using copper though out her
designs since she graduated 2013 from Kingston University. For this
collection she has stayed true to her aesthetic and
used
copper but this time she has been inspired by the transition from
been a student and going into working life. She has looked at
crystals that protect that innocence, naivety and frustrations. One
colour that seemed to always be present was green and she has
mirrored this in her designs by using techniques that made the copper
shine in green. The dress would be like a armour that protects the
wearer physically and emotionally.
Sadie
Clayton, who has been named "Copper Girl", discussed how
happy she has been with people's reactions to her designs. When asked
what advice she would give to other designers who want to be in her
position she replied "I would say work hard and be tenacious. If
someone says no, get back up and go again because there is always a
reason why they said no."
ROBERT
WUN
Robert
Wun told me a captivating story about his collection and where his
inspiration comes from. Always reflecting back on religion and how
man relates to it, channelling this trough incorporating panelling in
his designs. For this collection he looked closer to the transition
of creativity and why man enjoys creating. Real art never comes from
happiness, that’s why the main colour is black. He was very
inspired by aura and energy. Using black as the sad beginning of
creativity, then in some pieces the spectrum of the rainbow come
though to symbolise possibility. Followed by unnatural, manmade cold
pinks to symbolise the birth of new ideas. He describes his
aesthetics as wearable elegance.
JEASUN
CHUNG
Jeasun
Chen says that she wants to have a new vision of fashion. That
fashion is not art yet they are closely related. The difference is
that fashion is a product that you can wear and buy. Jeasun is always
inspired by the juxtaposition of things in life such as how we admire
flowers; their fragility makes them more valuable. The fact that they
die yet that they are so beautiful makes them appealing to us. The
similarities in how humans seek perfection in their lives and use
clothing as one of their tools to create this self proclaimed
perfection. To mirror this in her collection she created a hat where
the act of cutting the strings of fabric that where attached to it
made the dress that was hidden underneath, unveiled. Almost like a
flower blooming.
LAUREN
SMITH
Lauren's
latest collection has been inspired by spontaneous drawing., using
this as her print. Although mixing in a sophisticated silhouettes to
take her new collection to the next level. As her previous collection
was very young, now she wanted to keep her signature features yet add
something new. Mixing cold bight colours such as baby blue with cold
reds, white and patent black leather.
Designer
Lauren Smith spoke to us about how excited she is to have the
opportunity to showcase at Fashion Scout and having new and
surprising people attend and see her collection.
PENTATONICA
AND DINARA NURLAN
The
two talented girls who make up Pentatonica explained that their name
is a musical term that consists of five tones. These can be
improvised and they want people to be able to be like musicians and
improvise with their clothes.
See
more about talented designers such as Dinara Nuralan and the girls
from Pentatonica on Kiev fashion Days.
GBEMI
London
based designer Alice Olyitan’s A/W 15 collection entitled “A lot
like heaven” depicts her aspirations of heaven. According to Alice,
heaven belongs in the 1960s where the Gbemi girl is donned in vibrant
shift dresses and mini skirt embellished with motifs of angel wings
and flowers. Her use of reflective fabrics and embroidery is a way of
infusing light into the collection and further emphasising the idea
of a disco lounge heaven. Alice aims to design for women who are not
afraid to stand out in bright colours whether rain or shine, such as
Suzy Bubble. Independence and freedom is one of the reasons she
admires the sixties as a decade which ushered in a lot of movements
and really saw the first emergence of youth subcultures. The clean
cut and simple silhouettes helps rein the collection in a modern
environment.
HOLLY JAYNE SMITH
Having
won the Graduation Fashion Week International Residency Award in 2014
Holly Jane Smith picked Morocco as destination for 6 months. Whilst
there she collected inspirations for her A/W 15 collection. The
designer showcased an array of energetic hues of yellows and pinks
amidst flowing and free silhouettes inspired by those of the streets
of Marrakesh. Instead of styles worn in Morocco, the designer spent
her time observing the interactions between inhabitants. Human
psychology and nature being a key part of her design ethos and she
tried to reflect the psychology of Morocco in her garments. Holly is
fascinated by contemporary differences between cultures, she compared
Morocco to the UK 25 years; very traditional and infantine in its
technology and energy. But she managed to translate the youth and
positivity of the country onto her collection.
Holly
Jayne Smith shared that "the collection came to life when I
travelled to Morocco and sourced new fabrics and details for the
garments." She would recommend that new designers trying to
break the industry should " be as persistent as you physically
can and not give up at the first hurdle. Opportunities come from the
strangest places and I would advise in creating your own
opportunities by pushing you work out to whoever you possibly can; by
being as open as you can."
QUOI ALEXANDER
The
reason behind Quoi Alexander’s AW 15 collection was that he wanted
to find a way to use clay in his collection. The result? A collection
of cavemen drawings against a backdrop of corseted silhouettes made
up of clay, latex, spandex and leather. The designer’s
concentration was very much on art, wanting to take the idea of
European cavemen drawings as the “original art” he juxtaposed it
with notions of what he considers as the “last art” to create a
raw collection of earthy hues. He admits that he essentially wanted
people to wear dirt, and he’s achieved the illusion of
primordialism by decorating the garments with his own fingerprints
and tribal-like stripes. He’s already thinking of ideas for his
next collection and thinks he may aim to do the complete opposite of
his current one by exploiting the idea of anti-earth. He lists plenty
of plastics as material which will dominate.
ERWIN MICHALEC
At
first glance, Erwin Michalec’s collection suggests medieval
influences, but upon a closer look there’s references of the 4
elements water especially. He presents plain silhouettes illustrated
by African tribal drawings. African and other ethnic cultures are
consistent themes within his work so much so that this season’s
collection overlapped slightly with his last, as he reused linen
material and hand painted it with the image of a mechanical boat. He
plays with the idea of combining ancient mechanism with African
culture, “What would happen if Leonardo Da Vinci lived in ancient
Africa?” he poses. Movement and fluidity are the reason behind the
simplistic flowing silk silhouettes of tunics, by connecting it with
connotations of water such as fish, sails and even sand he aims to
design functional art. The designer admits that he doesn’t feel
influenced by other big name designers, but rather looks up to the
unsung ones.
MEHLE
Maja
Mehel’s collection is a critique of the fashion of today. Drawing a
lot of inspiration from her native country, she tries to reinterpret
the functional sportswear styles of Slovenia back in the 90s
paralleled with the ideas of such forward thinking revolutionaries as
artist August Cernigoj and Srecko Kosovel. The collection aims to mix
the old with modern aspects present within the forms of oversized
sportswear of dark blues greens and blacks to create textural
garments made up of heavy duty fabric ranging from neoprene to more
common mohair. The use of jersey reinforces the idea of sportswear
yet the cut and shape of the garments is a reminder of the brand’s
trademark tailoring. Mehle doesn’t exactly describe her work as
anti-fashion yet she states that she doesn’t want to conform to the
way of designing that everybody does, and prefers the term
anti-decorative. The appeal of the collection is the ability to
customise the garments by removing or adding on Velcro strips.
#FashionScoutAW15
Carmen Procopiuc
@carmenprocopiuc
carmenprocopiuc.blogspot.com
ragsandroids.blogspot.co.uk