Sophie Murphy

Tell us about your background in fashion design? Where do/did you go to college? What course did you take?

From school I went to Sallynoggin for one year where I studied a PLC in Fashion Design. At the time I did not know whether I wanted to study design or fashion industry, so I did not want to commit to a 4-year long college course. Straight away I realised how much I loved sewing though & couldn’t imagine myself ever doing anything else. Before going to Sallynoggin the only sewing I had ever done was just little things for myself. I got my first sewing machine when I was 16 but always just played around on it seeing how straight I could sew lines etc. After my first year in Sallynoggin I decided to move to the Grafton Academy to study design. The Grafton focuses on the technical side of design in terms of pattern drafting which is something that really stood out to me. It was the best decision ever, I am currently in my final year.

Interning with Simone Rocha was such a great experience. I spent the past 3 summers there & I learnt so much. It is great to see all the different areas of work within the business and how they all come together for example production, textiles & sample rooms. I worked backstage at her London Fashion Week Show & got to go to Paris for Showrooms which was amazing. It was great to see the garments coming to life in the show after seeing the from the beginning being made. Paris Showrooms was particularly interesting for me as it was my first experience ever seeing how the Selling Showrooms work so it was amazing to see how it works for such a huge label. I gained so much knowledge from working with Simone Rocha as you are constantly surrounded by amazing people who have worked in the industry for so many years & their skills are endless.

What approach do you take when it comes to your own designs? What’s the most important part of the process?

I always design for myself, I have been told so many times that it is not a good way to design but it is the only way that works for me. My brain works in a weird way & I just have to go with my own instinct on things. If it is something I wouldn’t wear, realistically I won’t make it because I will have no interest in the garment. I get bored easily & have the worst attention span, so it is important for me to really want to make what I am designing. The most important design process for me is making a statement on a garment. Something that makes it different and stand out in a crowd. Preferably something that straight away people would be able to pick out as one of my designs whether it be through the colours I used or little details. I find it hard to buy clothes in stores, I feel they don’t really cater for the style I like. So, I see this as a niche and play off it when designing. I love to put a girly twist on my design by playing around with colour and giving oversized pieces a girly vibe. I try to design for ‘the rebellious youth’-a group of people in my age who express themselves through their clothing.

Tell us about your entry to the Nike London Air competition? Where did you find inspiration for your design?

I have always been the biggest Nike fan, from as far back as I can remember I have been wearing Nikes; Nike iD’s, dunks,

I just had so much fun with the entry playing around with different shoes on photoshop, making hybrids etc. My inspiration was looking at London - the city of two cities. There is a great divide in London due to segregation. For example, the borough of Kensington and Chelsea is famous as home of celebrities (higher class), but it has pockets of deprivation like the housing estate where the 24 story Grenfell Tower stood (lower class). My shoe design is to unite the people of London through the word ‘Nike’ and imagery ‘Tick’. The word Nike would stand out to the prestigious people of London, who are interested in literacy. Whereas the Tick Logo stands out to the youths & rebellious teens as logos make a statement. The outside of my shoe is a different colour to the inside, but they join in the middle as one. Like London. Getting to chat to Skepta and hear him say how much he loved my shoe was just a whole new level of cool.

What are the challenges that young Irish desginers face today? How can we go about solving them?

I think two of the biggest challenges would have to be a lack of financial support & lack of job opportunities in design. A lot of people do not realise how much design costs, other than fabric there are so many other expenditures that realistically without support a student coming out of college will not be able to survive. It is pretty discouraging and could very easily turn you off trying to start up your own label because the fear of not surviving financially is pretty big. I feel there should be a company who would take on young designers, let them continue to work away on their own collections and try help them promote their brand and get it stocked in stores. Like Fashion East. It is very hard to get that big break unless you get lucky, especially in Ireland anyway where there are so few opportunities in the fashion sector. It is easy to fall into a hole of interning for a designer and maybe never leaving that internship then. So, there is no time for you to do your own thing and eventually you will feel its too late to go back and try start up your own brand. You lose your own niche along the way.

Most of our talent sail the sea to London to pursue a full-time career. Do you ever think Ireland will ever be a substantial residence for young talent to build a brand?

I do think Fashion in Ireland is growing, people are more aware of what is happening for sure. There are so many cool fashion events popping up which is great. They are uniting the love of fashion in Dublin. There is a lot of creativity out there but in terms of marketing & selling however I just don’t think Ireland can cater for young designers. There is too much hype around branded clothing in Ireland, people want things because of the label, not necessarily because of the design. People are not willing to pay high prices for young designer’s pieces because they could get something hyped for the same price. The hyped piece realistically cost nothing to make in a factory whereas a young designers piece is being hand made from scratch. I feel this is something a lot of people are unaware of, so much time goes into making a garment for example even down to making your own pattern & calcio’s.

What changes do you think need to be made within the Irish industry?

I feel there needs to be more diversity. Some stores in Dublin now have the coolest men’s sections with lots of up and coming cool menswear brands, but the same is not offered for women. Men’s fashion is growing but I just don’t feel the same is happening for women. I also think more needs to be put into Dublin Fashion Festival, majority of countries now have their own fashion week and in fairness in Dublin it is pretty bleak.

What are your plans for 2018? What are your ambitions?

One of my main aims for 2018 is start up my own label and give it my everything. I am in the process of making a website where I will be able to sell my designs. Once I finish up in college I will have time to work on my label

‘Sewphie’ as at the minute I am working on my final college collection which is sportswear & I find it hard to work on both projects at the same time as it all gets jumbled into one in my head. So for the minute I need to finish up in college and then I will finally be free to do my own thing with ‘Sewphie’. So far 2018 has been so busy for me, I won DCU Young Designer, Ida Broen wore one of my vests to Oslo Fashion Week where it was then featured on HighSnobiety which was insane. I also have some other cool projects coming up, but I just can’t say much about them at the minute, but I am defiantly excited about the future.