Triumph Inspiration Award

This term I will be taken part in the Triumph Inspiration Award, a global competition that recognises new designers in the lingerie sector. With the final being held in Shanghai, the theme this year is 'Dragons and Butterflies'. I am currently finding the theme to be a difficult one, developing a unique concept within what at first seems a very prescriptive brief will be creatively challenging.

Await my results...

Designed with the consumer in mind...

This collection, inspired by the Ballet Russes, was designed in response to a brief from London College of Fashion. The brief required me to design with a consumer in mind, it stated that...

'Truly successful designers understand the greater responsibility they have to research, understanding their market, their consumer and finding the appropriate research which will take them on a journey of creative development and innovation.'

It was the first time I had been asked to consider who would actually be buying my lingerie and I initially found such design considerations restrictive. I chose my consumer and researched into 'her' life and background, feeling confident that I understood what 'she' wanted and could design appropriately. My initial research was a visit to the Ballet Russes exhibition - I found it hugely inspiring and came away scribbling down hundreds of ideas. However, when I looked back on those first designs a couple of days later I realised they did not 'fit' with my consumer. Then began the most extensive design development I have ever undertaken! I worked at my designs until I created a collection that is both beautiful and wearable.


Below are some images from the project...

Inspiration

Mood Board

 Ann Demeulemeester Project

In my 2nd design project at London College of Fashion I was asked to design a lingerie collection for an existing label. The brand I was given was Belgian designer Ann Demeulemeester (I must point out the project was in no way in collaboration with Ann Demeulemeester). My challenge was to research the brand thoroughly until I had an integral understanding of how and why they designed, their aims and motivations. From this knowledge I could then design a collection of lingerie that would comfortably sit alongside the brand's existing womenswear collections. I found it fascinating to explore a designer in such detail and the fact that I had little previous knowledge of the brand meant I had no preconceptions regarding 'a Demeulemeester garment' was. My final collection featured fabrics with strong tactile qualities in a monochrome palette. Hand-painted prints on the inner of the garments reflected the 'attention to detail' design ethos of Demeulemeester.

Highgate Cemetery

I first visited Highgate Cemetery a few years ago and was immediately entranced by the place. I had been given a project entitled 'Faded Splendour' and had been stumbling around for a while trying to find the inspiration needed to begin the design process. In Highgate Cemetery I found inspiration. As a place it is beautiful but unsettling - there is something very solid about it and more then anywhere else I have been it has a sense of timelessness. 


Below are some of the photographs I took on my first visit as well as work it has inspired.