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I
graduated in Fashion Print Design from Central Saint Martin's
College of Art & Design in June 2002. From my degree
show, I took part in the Healy & Baker Design Awards
held in London's Natural History Museum. I completed
the year with an invitation to show my collection at the "Fashion
In Motion" cat walk show held in the Raphael Gallery of
the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Since my graduation I have been working as a costume and wardrobe
assistant in theatres such as Sadler's Wells and The
Colliseum. I am drawn to working within dance productions
both classical and contempory. Dance has strongly influenced
my personal design work. The transparent layering in my silhouettes
place enphasis on the waist line and bare shoulders of the female
body. Details that evoke the classic dance imagery of the early
1900s, encapuslated by artists such as Anna Pavlova and
also, in my more continuos shapes, the modernist Issadora
Duncan.
I create my own fabrics and textures to aid my designs by exploring
the transparent qualities of cotton muslin. By hand,
I process the muslin through water and pigment until it transforms
into lace like shapes which can be hung against light or draped
over the body. My work has a water like quality in its fluid
shape and rippled pattern. Water plays a great influence in
my work and this derives from a fascination with a strand of
spiritualist culture found in northeast Brazil. Sun bleached
cotton and lace wet from the ocean are strong visual elements
of the midnight ceremonies found in this region of Brazil.
In September 2003 I had an invitation to travel to Brazil to
show my work in the 7th Fashion Week which took place
in Salvador Bahia. For me, showing my women's wear collection
in this context represents a return to the source from which
it derives its inspiration. |
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