It’s that time of year again, as Fashion Design for Industry students at Heriot-Watt get ready to showcase their designs on the catwalk at the Annual Fashion Show on Saturday 19th June. The impressive event will feature a range of exciting and flawlessly-designed creations from the School of Textiles and Design, and is a chance for the students to show their work to the public and industry professionals before they go on to forge their own careers in fashion.
The key collections we previewed made use of flamboyant colours, unusual textures, sharp, striking tailoring and some avant-garde cutting techniques. We spoke to the designers about their inspirations behind their different looks…
Amy Holmes
I was lucky enough to go to Bolivia recently and I was really transfixed by the traditional costumes that the women wore; they were walking around carrying goats in these bowler hats and flouncy skirts and little ballerina pumps. My collection is all about the layers – I wanted to translate those layers with my own style and prints in a kind-of modern twist. The person I design for is quite fashion forward. They don’t necessarily need to wear my pieces as I’ve designed them to be worn, instead they might wear the pinafore as a jacket by tying it over one shoulder and style it up with charity shop pieces or with a pair of fabulous designer boots. In Bolivia it’s freezing due to the altitude, so the rest of my collection features lots of textured chunky knits, contrasted with thinner layers and my own prints. It’s really a fusion of all these elements which creates quite an eclectic collection.
Vanessa Plenderleith
My collection is inspired by modern architecture. I was looking at buildings that have large expanses of glass and metal covering them and I love the contrast of that, which is where the inspiration for the see through blouse with the structure underneath comes from. The entire collection focuses on what’s underneath – there are a lot of sheer garments with plastic bras underneath, and I’ve mixed some leather and wool with softer fabrics. I design for a strong person with a distinct personality. My collection definitely has a bit on an attitude about it. I’m inspired by Alexander Wang’s casual/chic vibe, as well as Gareth Pugh. I love the strong attitude and personality in their designs.
Jennifer Finnie
I started looking at the broken mind and mental health problems, and this collection came about through that. I was looking at mental institutes and the treatment that patients receive inside there, and it developed into the concept of volume versus control; so a lot of restriction of volume in the one outfit. I use a lot of braces and belts over very long, full or padded out dresses, and I use leather, suede and a waterproof fabric stuffed with wadding to act as a contradiction. The colour palette of the collection is quite muted stone colours; slate greys, blacks and silvers. I try to do something different with my pattern cutting and make them quite different, so they’re not just your average trousers and top. They have a modern edginess to them I suppose. Viktor & Rolf are my favourite designers – I just think their collections are unbelievable, and so unique. They don’t conform to any trends; they set the trends.
Mairi Campbell
The collection is quite dark – it’s mostly based on reptiles, mutants, things like that, so it’s a lot more avant-garde than most things on the high street. I really like textured things, so that’s what I’ve tried to focus on in my collection; I use a lot of leather, feathers, fur, bits of gold and things like that. It’s all quite dark. I’m really interested in menswear and I think there’s a gap in the market at the moment for something interesting and on-of-a-kind. There’s nothing in menswear that catches my eye just now – that’s why I want to create something a little bit different.
Go to our Flickr page to see more images from the photoshoot.
Images and Words: Rebecca Jamieson
