Pages

Monday 23 February 2015

Emerging Designer Showcase AW15



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

@mallia_kolumba
ragsandroids.blogspot.co.uk