Elizabeth Morling: Folklore Prints At Your Service

published in: Fashion Design, 14 Jan 2012

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Elizabeth Morling at the age of 25 has grabbed life by its horns and managed to work for holly grails of the fashion industry such as Eley Kishimoto, Jonathan Saunders, Galliano, Balenciaga, and is currently working as a Junior Designer at Pringle of Scotland with Alistair Carr.

Elizabeth was born in Paris from a British father and a Vietnamese mother, a multicultural background that could explain her folk-inspired prints and love for colour. She studied Fashion Design in Paris at École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués (ESAA) Duperré for 3 years, before spreading her wings and moving to London, where she obtained her BA in Fashion Print from the prestigious Central Saint Martins.

Among the things that inspire Morling are colours, photography, people and styles that she sees. "I find in general the composition of objects and images the most interesting," she says. "The clash of prints, colours and their varying proportions."

In 2009, Elizabeth won an award for a liberty print she designed, and the Grazia Fash Factor last summer with her final collection.

What inspired Morling for her graduate collection was mexican folk, the craftmanship of their work, but also the colours and naivety of their prints and wovens. "I clashed all of this with the precision and geometry of islamic tiles. The intricacy and beauty of them amazed me. I wanted to create something fresh bold and bright. I mixed various materials such as wool, neoprene, leather, cotton, sheepskins to produce something ecclectic," she explains.

Elizabeth's current goals include collaborations and design for other companies, offering more of a style, an image through prints and design. "Maybe start my own business in a few years?" she wonders, and we have no doubt she will make this dream come true too. The fashion world awaits with breath that is bated. 

Related links: Showtime

All images courtesy of Elizabeth Morling©

Loredana Novotni: Sacred Couture Collection

published in: Fashion Design, 12 Dec 2011

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Loredana Novotni is a 24-year-old fashion designer, who recently graduated from the University of Arts and Design of Cluj-Napoca in Romania with a Masters Degree in Fashion Design. "I loved drawing since I was little and had my soul set in the creative field since then," Novotni explains. "I wasn't thinking about becoming a designer, I just loved to make dresses for the dolls." From an early age Novotni learned to knit and to crochet.

"At 9 years old I started to make the first clothes for dolls, some Sailor Moon costumes," she says, a character she has been 'in love' with ever since. Passion for Sailor Moon was preserved in time, and when the time came for her to create her debut collection "Sailor Lolita", she turned to the famous character for inspiration.

According to Novotni, fashion is an art, a functional art. It's art you can touch and feel and interact with. "My philosophy touches not only the functionality of a design, but also its aesthetics and visual perception, through the influence of different visual art forms. Design should have soul and should touch the five senses of a person. Each design must be as unique as the artist. It is a way for the artist to express what comes from within," she says.

  

The essence of Novotni's degree collection "SacRED" comes from pre-Columbian art, sacrifice and blood. However, the technical concept is in tune with contemporary art (assemblies, design and execution illustrates merging popular traditions and avant-garde renewals). According to her, "The Primitive" is identified largely with the complex of myths and pre-Columbian art ornaments. The fact that most ancient magic and religious symbols are found in present ornamentation of most peoples, determined me to create reminiscent forms of abstract plastic of Neolithic civilizations.

Directed  by Vintu Bogdan and Pop Adrian

"My works are oriented towards primitive origins of human beings and fall into an artistic tradition with archaic origin, whose main function is to express the sacred presence. High and filiform figures refer to the idea of space and raising. I shaped the silhouette with the temptation to complete all by a continuous but limited line in space, chasing figures, focusing them on vertical, establishing an analogy between the carnal and the spiritual world. My works evoke the relationship between sky and earth, matter and spirit, body and soul. Red has a fundamental role in my work because is the colour of fire and blood, love and life, hope and sacrifice. Passionate red, sun and blood always symbolized primary principles."

The collection is focused mainly towards yarn and crochet, techniques that Novotni loves utilising, since she enjoys the resulting textures. Her style provides handmade garments with emphasis on structures, techniques and advanced details. "I like to work with textiles, I like to discover new textures, new ways to do things. Hand-crafted techniques became part of my design style and intends to prevail in my future collections," she says. Her collection was displayed at the UAD GRADUATES EXHIBITION 2011 at Expo Transilvania, Cluj-Napoca , Romania.

Novotni, recently, started working with concept stores in Romania, an opportunity she cherishes, since she wishes to improve and perfect her style and to expand her brand in other countries. "Until then, I have to do this in my country first," Novotni explains. "I don’t usually make future plans, but one of my ambitions are various collaborations with other designers and known artists."

All images courtesy of Loredana Novotni©

Minky Ha's Extravagant Silhouettes

published in: Fashion Design, 29 Nov 2011

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Hole of Greed

Minky Ha was born in South Korea where he studied ‘Art Studies’ at the Hong-Ik University. While studying Minky felt that his degree was based on theory rather than practice and decided to move to London to study fashion at the prestigious Central Saint Martins, earning a BA in Fashion Design Womenswear.

Hole of Greed

Ha sees 'fashion' as a very influential form of art to individual and society, due to its practicality and significant ripple effect. What motivates him to work are absurdities and contradictions in society. Fashion became a great tool to convey his interpretation and opinion.

Born in Capitalism

Ha's latest collection "What men live by" was based on the story he wrote, which was inspired by 'Theory of Life' by Tolstoy and 'Seize the day' by Saul Bello. Through this collection, he wanted to provoke people, especially himself to ask "what do humans live for, and live by?"

Born in Capitalism

 

“What Men Live By?” is a symbolical, metaphorical statement of an imaginary character’s life who lives in capitalism. Each outfit is meant to symbolise a certain stage of one's life in capitalism. "I tried to show my own interpretation about life, and throw a very fundamental question to others and myself 'why do we live?'" In the show there were 6 different characters that symbolise 6 different states of one's life time. Born, Adapted, Addicted, Dead, Reborn and Sacrifice.

Addicted to Capitalism

In terms of technique Ha used soft foam to make shapes, and in terms of concept he used real coins to symbolise our capitalism era. Another goal to his collection was to stand on the borderline of 'sculpture' and 'clothing', to eliminate its boundaries.  Now, he is working on his wearable sculptures to continue his vision. 

Dead in Capitalism

 

Minky lives and works in London.

Reborn in Capitalism

Related Links: Showtime

 

All images courtesy of Louis Park©

Sacrifice in Capitalism

Amy Becker-Burnett: Where Heavy Duty Meets Fragility

Amy Becker-Burnett is a young womenswear designer, who graduated recently from London College of Fashion with a BA in Fashion Design and Development. Her final collection was based around the Mexican Festival Dia de Los Meurtos.

What appealed to Becker-Burnett was the idea of making something as dark as death into something bright, decorative and fun. "I was inspired by the overly ornate and kitsch imagery from Day Of The Dead and it's focus on traditional crafts. The concept of my work was juxtaposing the tough and sinister with something softer and more feminine," she explains.

 
Becker-Burnet was drawn to the exploration of delicate sheer fabrics against heavy duty and unusual textiles. "The pieces in the range translate my love of collecting odd and mundane objects to create something beautiful and unique," says the talented designer. She also developed the idea of producing hand embellished pieces using nuts and bolts and unexpected components, again referencing the hand crafted aspects of Dia de Los Meurtos.

Amy Becker-Burnett Spring 2012 Video Lookbook from Emma Freed on Vimeo.

The video look book was created to capture the mood behind the collection, romanticise the garments and generate interest around the brand. The story behind the video was loosely based around the idea of stirring from death and reflects my love of styling and fashion film.

The pieces Becker-Burnett design are garments for stylish, confident and experimental women. I want the collection to symbolise understated elegance with harder more unconventional undertones.

 "I want the collection to symbolise understated elegance with harder more unconventional undertones," says Becker-Burnett.

All images courtesy of Amy Becker-Burnett©
Photographer: Emma Freed

Ramil Makinano: King of Neon (Pun Intended)

published in: Fashion Design, 09 Nov 2011

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I met Ramil Makinano, a Filipino-born but London-based designer, over drinks at a pub near his place a while ago. It gave me a chance to get to know the man behind the clothes and see a few samples of his collection that I so liked from up close. Needless to say that he is a wonderful person, very kind and approachable with no diva syndromes (thank God!). Ramil graduated recently from the prestigious Central Saint Martins with a BA (Hons) Fashion with a focus on Fashion Print.

For his final collection, Makinano he visited many museums and galleries, but what really got his attention was non other than the 'Fit For a King' exhibition at the Tower of London, which included a collection of King Henry XVIII’s armour.

"I was very impressed with the method used to display these fascinating five centuries of royal armor using modern neon colored lighting and glass casing. The effect of this display turned the normally heavy, dark and sinister armor into seemingly light, bright, colorful and modern shapes. While I was looking at the exhibition, I could easily imagine these colors and shapes evolving into a collection," explains Makinano.

Fascinated by the exhibition, Ramil started researching armor, space suits used in films (e.g. Star Wars), and former British PM Margaret Thatcher as she was portrayed by many cartoonist in the 1980’s (i.e. armor as she was also known as the ‘Iron Lady’).  This also lead the designer to look at the clothes worn by Mrs. Thatcher during the 1980’s, and her signature power dressing look (e.g.tailored suits, big shoulder pads and pencil skirts). To take it one step further, Makinano also delved into the 1980’s designs that have been inspired by armor and space, a silhouette that is closely related to the human body - strict and strong shoulders and hourglass shapes including those by Thierry Mugler.

The neon colors in the exhibition along with the bright hues of the 1980’s was the main influence behind Makinano's color palette of his final collection. The prints were inspired by space including rockets, space stations, astronauts and also evolved into geometric shapes. "I experimented with different printing techniques, fabric manipulation and fabrics, and found the best results.  I achieved the shape that I wanted by using neoprene in bright colors," says Makinano.

His final collection is all about bright colours, geometric prints, pleating, hourglass shapes and big strong shoulders using modern natural and man-made fabrics. And may we just say that he did a damn fine job.

For more details you can reach Ramil Here.

All images courtesy of Ramil Makinano©

Charlotte Lucy Barry: A Seduction To The Eye, Touch and Soul

published in: Fashion Design, 25 Oct 2011

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Exquisite craftsmanship doesn't even begin to describe the young and talented Charlotte Lucy Barry, a fresh graduate from London College of Fashion. Charlotte was born 22 summers ago in Southport near Liverpool. Little did she know how far along she would make it as a designer at such an early age.

Barry got her Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, which she passed with Distinction, and moved on to getting her BA in Fashion Design Technology: Surface Textiles. Her graduate collection incorporated lavish color, texture and detail. Different hues of mustard, ochre and gold help the intricate detail stand out and give a full 3-D visual. As Barry explains, inspiration for her came through the perfect ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The shapes are feminine and minimalistic giving way to the embroidery, which was engineered to fit each pattern piece individually. The highlight of the collection for her is "the tones and colours – I love how the details all melt into each other effortlessly".

 Barry describes her style as a combination of lady-like and slouchy, with great attention to intricate detailing in the fabric design. Her style heroine is Iris Apfel. She has no particular muse, but she is rather drawn to many people, and would love to see one of her designs on Florence Welch.

London has a special meaning to her, fashion-wise, as it offers her the potential for day to day reinvention.

Though only 22-years-old, Charlotte has many achievements under her belt. She showcased her collection at Vauxhall Fashion Scout during London Fashion Week in September. In May 2011, Barry was not only nominated for the Biddle Sawyer Silk Award for Innovative Use of Fabric, and selected for the BA Press Show, but she also won the Barnett Lawson Award for Use of Trimmings. In February 2011, she entered the Escada Design Competition on which she was highly commended.

Though Charlotte has not confirmed any immediate plans to work at an established design house, in five years time should would like to be known for her exquisite craftsmanship. Isn't she already?

For more information you can reach Charlotte Lucy Barry here.

Related links: Showtime

Images courtesy of Charlotte Lucy Barry©