YOU'RE ORIGINALLY FROM WARWICKSHIRE, BUT THEN YOU MOVED TO LONDON...

I moved from a small town to London. I have a lot of aunts that live in London so I always spent quite a lot of weekends visiting them as a teenager, I had already been introduced to the V&A and galleries and to shopping and that is what sort of made me want to move here. My one aim for a long time was just to move to London. Of course, once you get here, it’s very different.  You never have any time to go to exhibitions or galleries or anything like that. It was a change, a good change.

WHEN DID YOU KNOW YOU WANTED TO DESIGN?

There were lots of different intermittent things that happened that led me in that direction.  I come from a very arty family – my parents are both artists and I have lots of aunt’s who are either illustrators or performance artists. My great grandmother was a milliner, so it was a very arty childhood. I was always encouraged to draw all over the walls of the house.  I remember a time when my mother brought this amazing fish on holiday and she wouldn’t start cooking it until my sister and I had both drawn it first. So it was always a very creative environment.  Then there was a dilemma: whether I was going to go in to art, fashion or theatre - because I wanted to be an actress for a long time as well. Then it sort of just happened. I was really scared about applying to Saint Martins, I didn’t think I could get in. I applied on the day of the deadline at about 12, midday and I got in.

HOW DID YOUR TIME AT SAINT MARTIN'S SHAPE YOU AND YOUR AESTHETIC, GIVEN IT IS ONE OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS SCHOOLS IN THE WORLD.

Saint Martins is a special type of education in the respect that I think you have to be quite a self-sufficient designer before you can even start there. For example, a typical Saint Martin’s student trait would be: if you didn’t have enough money to buy a particular tartan fabric or if you couldn’t find one you liked, you would go into a studio and print your own tartan – if you can’t get it or afford it, you work out how to do it yourself. You have the ability to learn how to solve design issues and problems, it’s a very important skill that I have managed to pick up.  It is really like that from the beginning at Saint Martins and sometimes that can be really difficult but it really helps you, for example you learn where to source things in London- you’re not given a map, you learn from asking people and getting involved and knowing people who know where things are, it is really about self-sufficiency. But, you’re also never alone; you are part of an artistic community. Everyone has a great balance between enjoying life, and living in London, and doing really great work. It is important to get out and see what is happening in the world.  There is always something to learn, sometimes you learn by finishing a really amazing thing, sometimes you learn by failing something.

It was really exciting. It actually seems like a really long time ago, thinking back to it. 

IS LOUISE WILSON REALLY AS SCARY AS THEY SAY SHE IS?

Louise is an amazing woman. She is really intelligent and supportive, and very serious about what she does and takes your work seriously, just an amazing teacher. She is a very special woman.

WELL DONE FOR WINNING THE L'OREAL PROFESSIONAL CREATIVE AWARD, HAS THE EXPOSURE FROM WINNING CHANGED YOUR WORK OR PROCESS?

It was actually really interesting because with fashion, you never know how people are going to take it. You may look at something and think it is really good but you never know if everyone is going to feel the same. It is hard to gage what is going to happen. I feel happy and touched that people are interested in my work. But, I was genuinely quite surprised by the award, it was interesting to see how one day it was all London bloggers, by a day later it was all Canadian bloggers talking.  

 YOUR GRADUATE COLLECTION WAS VERY TEXTURED, HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO WORK WITH HAIR? IT MUST HAVE BEEN A HORRIBLY DIFFICULT TEXTILE TO WORK WITH.

I have a knitwear base, my BA was Fashion with Knit so I always start from a textiles perspective. I think, because I am not a tailor, I am not working with pattern cutting, I am working with surfaces so I’m always looking for surfaces that can communicate something rather than working with a silhouette like a tailor would. So I suppose with the hair, I was looking at how it laid over bare flesh and something was communicated between the flesh and the hair, and then the way the hair moved was also really interesting. The hair was very soft and very wild when the girls walked very fast, but then in some areas it was very controlled and neat. I was interested in the basic things that it could do I suppose. Then try and put those things into shapes that you could wear. 

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT? 

I am just recovering and seeing what I am going to do next. Who knows what’s going to happen in the future, hopefully lots of adventures and exciting things. 

HOW DO YOU START YOUR DESIGN PROCESS AND WHERE DO YOU GATHER YOUR INSPIRATION FROM? 

I always start with a particular feeling or emotion that I want to portray so with this collection I wanted to portray a sense of gravity - an exploration into gravity, light and movement. So the rubber fringes were like little square epaulets and were all threaded on and suspended. It is really interesting because people see the epaulets differently, as say, embroidery, but when you see it up close the construction is really different.  But, it is the engineering and how it is constructed and how that can actually feed into the surfaces that interest me, like the suspended masses of fringe on these flat plains of hair. 

The technique is something I developed through lots of sampling and developments and more sampling and more developments. Usually with that level of fringe you will have a great deal of corseting or an under-structure, but I really wanted this kind of light feeling of floating hair on the body. So it was about trying to make it look light and bulky all at the same time. It was very ethereal and feminine. 

On a conceptual level, I am really interested in the relationship that an individual has with what they are wearing, I suppose, how it can affect the way they move, or the way they feel. 

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF FASHION GOING? 

The thing about fashion is that there is SO much fashion at the moment, we are saturated with it everywhere and everyone can access fashion. Which is not how it used to be. So it’s a vastly popular industry with lots of imagery and products and a vast turnover. The way I work is all handmade and I prefer slow fashion. But, buyers want more fast fashion. 

We hear a lot about the ‘shuffle-button’ generation – we want something new and different all the time. We live in a fast time and fashion is very fast. It is very exhausting for the designers to try and keep up as it does actually take a long time to make a good product. I would love if it slowed down, I’m sure it will only increase in speed but it would be lovely if it would.  

WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER WORKING FOR A LARGE FASHION HOUSE? 

I don’t know. This is the question. As you know there is a lot of decision making going on at the moment. My main aim is to design. For me design is like doing a crossword, I like the problem solving and I like the engineering issues - it’s like a brain exercise, and I just want to do that somewhere where I can exercise my thoughts. 

DO YOU HAVE ANY FUTURE PROJECTS?  

The future is vast and terrifying and it has arrived really suddenly. I was just focusing on getting my collection finished and then suddenly it was ‘the rest of my life’. I am excited by the future but simultaneously overwhelmed by it. 

WHO IS YOUR DREAM CUSTOMER? 

Definitely Daphne Guinness, I think she is amazing, she dresses really well, she has amazing taste. 

WHO IS YOUR IDOL? 

I have many. I think Mr. Pearl, he is a corsetiere in Paris, a true genius. And, I really admire Alaia’s work, I think it is really amazing. I think those two are my fashion idols.  

Interviewed by Lucy Morris