NOVVO
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Welcome to the first issue of Novvo Magazine. Here at Novvo we showcase up and coming fashion designers that we love and we hope you will as well. This magazine was created to give the industry a different direction to locate the fashion designers of tomorrow. It will give you the opportunity to be one of the first to view these collections and have the chance to keep ahead of the game. In this first edition you will meet 22 designers from across the country with a range of specialisms. Just think you could be viewing the next ‘Alexander McQueen’, so don’t hold back subscribe today.
Alexandra Donald (Editor of Novvo Magazine)
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novvo Subscribe today to recieve quartley updates on new designers. To subscribe visit: www.novvomagazine.co.uk
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inside novvo Specials 10 _ The Dust Bowl Beth robi so n
12 _ Knitwear collection siri Mat tsson
14 _ The Awakening Rebec kah ong
18 _ Tr sop
17 _ 0,1,2,3,4 shaun h ar ri s
22 _ THE WHITE PROJECT JAMILE H NAD E L M ANN
26 _ Tracing a Memory sophi e hal l i we l l
30 _ Middle Eastern culture caro li ne s he r ato n
48 _ Closed Independent Flor a m u r u nga
Identity
racing a Memory
phie halliwell
features 6 _ Bricolage Amy sala 36 _ Avistamiento Santiago Ăšttima 38 _ A head full of flowers lauren anderson 41 42
_ Gypsies helena colvin _ BISH - The Unseen Heather hall
44 45
_ Dressing Down Dior aimee green _ Rebel Revolution jess long
Utility
46 _ The Walk of Wonder fernanda goodship 51 _ Mechanical Primordial Elisabeth kamaris 52 53
_ The Law of Jante hannah forD _ life long affair olga Novikova
54 _ Colour Project haleema Naseer
Q and A 8 _ The flood Alice timmins 34 _ Graduate Collection Grace Crich
a my sala
Fashion Design and Technology graduate Amy Sala, is a designer whose design aesthetic focuses on creating beautiful garments through collaging different fabric weights and textures, together with using the newest technology and machinery. Sala enjoys designing all aspects of womenswear including lingerie, outerwear, soft separates, print design and laser cut design. She loves being able to reflect a mood when designing as well as experimenting with different shapes and fabrics.
Designer: Amy Sala Photographer: Beth Alderson Model: Kattreya Smith
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Sala’s four-month graduate collection ‘Bricolage’ is a combination of masculinity and femininity; it is an infusion of the colours and elegancy of the Art Nouveau period juxtaposed with angular lines and shapes created in scientific graphs. She took inspiration from artist Alphonse Mucha and the graphs from Neurology. Sala used a mixture
of different materials, which include; Sandwashed silk, Printed Leather, Lasercut leatherette, Tulle, Wool and Printed cotton. Like any designer Sala experienced some difficulties as lasercutting took up a lot of her production time, this meant she had to remove the big laser cut designs from her collection, as they were extremely detailed. Sala’s ‘Bricolage’ collection is available to shoot on request. Currently Sala is working on building up a freelance print, illustration and fashion design business. She is using her industry experience to develop new skills and form specialisms. If you’d like to find out more feel free to contact her at amysala@hotmail.co.uk or visit her website http:// cargocollective.com/amysala By Molly Barham
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Al ice timm ins Alice Timmins is a womenswear designer who loves to design both conceptual and ready to wear designs. She likes her designs to have a meaning behind them. Here Timmins tells us all about why she loves designing and her latest collection ‘The Flood’. Tell us a bit about yourself and why you love designing? My name is Alice Timmins. I graduated from Birmingham City University last July with a BA (hons) in Fashion Design. I have always loved designing; I like to create something beautiful from an inspiration or a story that has a darker concept behind it, which is relevant today. Would you say there is a particular brand or designer who inspires you? I am inspired by lots of different designers but my main inspirations tend to come from Mary Katrantzou, Hussein Chalayan and Issey Miyake. Tell us about your collection? My collection is called ‘The Flood’. The concept of it is about seeing contamination, being able to see the invisible form of protection that creates its own disease. The inspiration came from a book I read called ‘The year of the flood’ by Margaret Atwood, in this book it Novvo Magazine / 8
Q and A imagines a future version of the story of Noah’s Ark except there is no flood of water it’s a flood of disease. This disease is created through trying to protect people by giving vaccinations for everything. This is where my idea comes from. I decided to look at what if you could see this contamination, wrapping around the body being both delicate and harsh. So whilst the protection protects, it also creates leaving the body vulnerable. I wanted to be able to show a progression like the story where there is the initial wave, the chaos, then when everything is over the beginning of new life. I have tried to show this through the colours transforming from dark to light and the body being covered almost completely to begin with to becoming slightly more free. Who is your collection aimed at? My collection does not have a specific audience it is more of a showpiece or experimental collection looking at the idea of being delicate and beautiful whilst being harsh, with the body being cocooned in a tangled web. How long did the collection take to complete? It was spread out over the course of 5 months.
Were there any problems that arose? How did you overcome these? From the outset I had an issue with finding fabrics that did what I wanted them to do. I created lots of designs and samples to find ways around the structural aspect of my design. As I wanted there to be a lot of volume and shape, but in different parts of the outfits, finding the correct material was essential.
Q and A alice Timmons
Are you working on a collection right now? At this moment in time I’m not working on any current projects but I have been thinking about ideas for my next one, which I think, will be based around beautiful rare, lost or extinct things. By Alex Donald
Contact: alicekate.timmins@gmail.com Website: www.alicetimmins.wix.com/alicetimmins
Designer: Alice Timmins Photographer: Joe.co.com
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Knitting Fashion B et h Ro bi nso n Third year Fashion and Textile Design student, Beth Robinson adopts a different approach to her collection creating it by knitting. The images displayed are taken from Robinson’s collection named ‘The Dust Bowl’, this project is original and striking. As a Fashion for Knitwear specialist, this quirky designer uses her “perfectionist” ways to incorporate different wools.
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Robinson takes most inspiration from Rachel James, a Westminster graduate – whose bold colours and print patterns are so fresh that she instantly fell in love with her work. The originality and boldness of her work is exactly what she loves to see when she looks at other menswear collections. Also well-known designers, Alexander Wang and Christopher Raeburn have always been huge inspirations for both the budding designer and her wacky work.
“I love designing because there are no limits to what you can draw.” The Dust Bowl, which built up as a 7-week project, originally gained its inspiration from 1930’s America, juxtaposing the different worlds from mid land America at the time of The Great Depression, to New York and the Art Deco movement. Robinson’s inspiration began on a typical commute into London during her summer, whilst reading To Kill a Mockingbird. From then, the era she based her project on, was that of the novel. Before beginning work on her collection, Robinson had several concerns. When she created The Dust Bowl project, it was only her second menswear project so she still felt she had learning to do about menswear shapes and garments. Although having fears about delving deeper into menswear within this project, she felt the project was “very helpful” and gave her a lot to learn within the industry to keep in mind within her following project, the Pre Collection. The fabrics used within her project are a variety of yarns – different weights, colours and properties. Within the Dust Bowl project, Robinson also experimented with a denim element, inspired by the men who worked in the cotton fields – linking it back to the theme of 1930’s America and the Great Depression. She used techniques, such as smocking, quilting and embroidery when experimenting with the denim fabrics. Her time working within the industry has also been a huge success for Robinson. Summer 2015, she undertook a 4-week internship with London knitwear based label – Lowie.
Helping to organise the social media and writing scheduled posts within their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, she learnt a lot about the design industry and the marketing side of bigger fashion companies, benefiting her in the long run and working well alongside her current studies. If you’d like to find out more about this new and upcoming knitwear designer, feel free to contact her on beth.robinson@hotmail.co.uk or visit her website and online portfolio by simply visiting www.bethrobinsonknitwear.co.uk. By Molly Barham
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S i r i m at t s s o n
Designer: Siri Mattsson Photographer: Khara Pringle Model:Lauryn Greer
Swedish designer Siri Mattsson is currently putting together a design studio in her native city of Stockholm. Learning to design, make clothes, sew and crochet at the tender age of thirteen, it is little wonder that Mattsson specialises in knitwear, woven materials and hand dyeing. She finds designing intellectually and creatively stimulating, and enjoys the satisfactory experience of witnessing an idea materialise. Mattsson argues that the design process is not just a passion, but it’s an “unstoppable Novvo Magazine / 12
driving force”. Her creative mind is constantly active. She compares it to a computer running endless codes in the background; her mind is like a, “stream of ideas and technical solutions”. Mattsson’s graduate project has uniquely been left unnamed. She took inspiration in the work of German artist Paul Klee and his work as part of the Bauhaus movement. The modernist art approach was arguably the most influential of the 20th century. Klee’s individual style
Kn itting Fashion uses bright colours and geometric shapes, and Mattsson transfers these concepts to her designs. As well as encapsulating a sense of the Bauhaus aesthetic and style, Mattsson was influenced by the urban feel of modern Berlin. She gained inspiration from Berlin’s street art, fashion, architecture and it’s art galleries. Mattsson used two different yarns; the first being a 3ply mercerised cotton and the second a 2ply silk and merino blend. The coat is made from felted wool and the trousers are a habotai silk. The yarns and fabrics used were all bought in a white or natural colour, enabling Mattsson to dye
them accordingly. As with any collection, Mattsson experienced bumps in the road. With a limited budget, Mattsson was unable to buy an excessive amount of yarn. She had to estimate the exact amount of yarn needed, and this proved more challenging than expected. By the end of this summer, Mattsson hopes to have another knitwear collection complete and more information regarding this will feature on her website (http://sirimattsson.wix.com/sirimattsson). If you her
wish at
to
find out more contact sirimattsson@hotmail.com By Pela Millard
Rebekah Ong Rebekah Ong exhibits her AW graduate collection ‘The Awakening’. After taking inspiration from the process of hibernation, Ong used her findings to create a knitwear based collection. She appreciated that hibernation relates differently to humans in comparison to animals. Ong looked more closely at hibernation in relation to the human sleep cycle and she reveals that the collection “conveys the emotional and physical traits of the sleep process chronologically”. The pieces are influenced by the change in body temperature, movement and brain activity that occurs during sleep. Thick, winter fabrics such as faux fur and wool blends have been used to cater for those who want unique and interchangeable AW pieces. Ong also uses polyester as a lightweight option that still resembles wool. Novvo Magazine / 14
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Photographer: Jonathan Liu Hair and Make up: Lena Lim & Gigi Chong Model : Kira Shütte
Ong acknowledges the ‘ever-changing’ mentality of designer Marc Jacobs. In such a fast-paced industry, she acknowledges that his collections thrive off individuality. Ong like Jacobs believes in individuality for every woman. She argues that fashion design is not something that can be emulated but is an outlet for creative expression and thrives off designing all the ‘weird ideas’ that build up in her head. Ong describes the process of creating ‘The Awakening’ as an enriching learning process. With it being her first time working with such thick materials, she gave it time and perseverance, and built up basic knitting skills that she had learnt outside of school. Despite working full time, Ong is still very eager to continue her fashion education and sharpen her design skills. After that, her aims are to work as a fashion designer for a ready-to-wear label. If you’d like to find out more contact her at rebekah.rebekah@gmail.com Novvo Magazine / 16 By Pela Millard
Shaun Harris Shaun Harris works a little differently to other designers with a “ten steps backward and twenty steps forward” approach. He combines historical and contemporary knowledge to push a collection into the future. Harris likes to direct the facts and information he gains into visuals, either through photography, videography, sculpture, or directly into design. His silhouette, colour and fabric choices are all influenced by key words or themes drawn from his research. Harris enjoys challenging fabric to do something it naturally would not do, by experimenting with cuts, treatments to morph, and shape. His minimalist approach to designing requires a mathematical knowledge and skilled precision. He describes himself as a very organised individual, and believes that having a specific P.O.A (plan of action) minimises any opportunities for problems later on in the process. Harris has utilised his methods and skills to create his collection ‘0, 1, 2, 3, 4’, an exploration in translating fashion into a fourth dimension. The latest collection was heavily informed by an in depth factual research of physics. Harris attended various quantum physics seminars in order to understand the concept of the fourth dimension. The thoughts and ideas discussed in the seminars concluded that the 4D is the mass of a 3D object. Another starting point for the collection was Kazimir Malevich’s painting ‘Lady Torso’. Malevich explored geometry to play with different dimensions in his work. He believed that white was the colour of infinity, and predominantly used it in the background of his art. Harris utilises the knowledge acquired from his quantum physics research and the experimental work of Malevich to inspire his designs. He uses white as the prime colour of his collection
and works with sheer cotton fabrics. The sheer fabric allows all aspects of the design to be seen, highlighting the structure and geometry influenced by the fourth dimension. By challenging this idea of the fourth dimension, Harris thinks of the body as being the mass that holds the clothes in place; transforming them from 2D to 3D. He plays with the human form and experiments to see how circles and rectangles can be portrayed in his designs. Harris contrasts the man made geometrical elements in his collection with a natural geometry that moves more freely. This creates a light structure with crisp movements throughout his collection. If you’d like to find out more feel free to contact him at shaun.harris93@googlemail.com By Pela Millard 17 / Novvo magazine
Main Feature
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Main Feature
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Designer: Shaun Harris Photographer: Clara Giaminardi Model: Caroline Dahm Hair: Patrick Forini MUA: Camilla Forini
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Jamileh nadelmann T he w h i te p roj e ct Jamileh Nadelmann began her AW collection ‘The White Project’ whilst studying abroad at Central Saint Martins. She continued to develop it during her winter break in New York to make it a complete collection and is now preparing to showcase ‘The White Project’ at the upcoming Milan Designers Week.
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Designer: Jamileh Nadelmann Photographer: Lucia Love Model: Kunhang Li
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Nadelmann grew up with family members occupying job roles as opera singers, actors and pianists. With such an artistic family, she felt a deep connection to the theatre and spent many years of her childhood, “straying about the costume tailoring, excited by the process of construction”. It was here that Nadelmann discovered a passion for design and tailoring. She purchased a sewing machine, and after selfteaching, began working diligently for hours to create designs. Nadelmann’s determination, creativity and self-motivation is perfectly suited to the fast and exciting world of fashion. She has gained a wealth of experience, working and interning for companies in both London and New York. Her ambition is to be able to pick up, “on developing trends, generating new ones and creating the unprecedented”. ‘The White Project’ has been designed to remind people of their human mortality and the exile of the dead from society, creating a “sartorial memento mori”. Nadelmann explains that ‘death’ has become an unspeakable concept, but interaction with the dead used to be a meaningful and respected act. The project visually explores death, looking closely at cemeteries and bone houses. Nadelmann discloses that Ossuaries were places of communication, containing the
bones of monks as well as commoners. The way to distinguish between the two was by the different shapes of white and because of this, she limits the collection to shades of white only. Whilst researching the history of cemeteries and bone houses, Nadelmann created a collage of images in a sketchbook. From this she understood the most successful textures and shapes, which she translated into fabric manipulations and design ideas. Nadelmann wanted to create an effortless and sophisticated collection. To do this she used high-quality, easycare fibres. A selection of felt, cotton twill, polycotton and neoprene gave her stiffer and softer fabrics to work with to achieve structural but flowing design elements. Using mostly synthetic fibres reinforced the modern feel for the collection. The easy-care cotton and synthetic fibres cater for clients who lead busy lives. The culmination of the project was a photoshoot at the Barbican Centre. This setting enhanced the eerie atmosphere of the collection and provided a fitting backdrop to see the final pieces. By Pela Millard Contact: jamileh_nadelmann@hotmail.com 25 / Novvo magazine Website: http://www.jamilehnadelmann.com
Sophie Halliwell Sophie Halliwell took an intimate moment with her grandma and used it as the basis to create the collection ‘Tracing a Memory’. After sifting through old photographs and listening to her grandmother recollect memories from her youth, Halliwell began to think more closely about the concept of a memory. Halliwell acknowledges the duo Palmer and Harding and how they, “bridge the gap between wardrobe essential and modern statement by the crafting of exquisitely designed shirts”. As a fan of the classic shirt, Halliwell appreciates how they use inventive and complex pattern cutting to create shirts that are illusorily simple. When creating ‘Tracing a Memory’, Halliwell began by thinking about the clarity of memory. The collection traces a memory’s narrative by questioning the formation of a memory, the ability to remember a memory, and the depth in which memories are stored. This inspired her to play with the design principles of cut, proportion and functionality. Halliwell’s fabric choices further her thoughts. She predominantly uses crisp, white cotton. Using white on white acts upon the purity and sophistication of the concept. The creaseability of the cotton demonstrates the cracks and impurities of a memory, reinforced over time. The white cotton is supported by a slightly thicker grey uniform linen, which coincidentally gave the collection a ‘school uniform’ feel. Despite it not being planned, the ‘school uniform’ aspect enhances the innocence and incorrupt visualisation of a memory. Novvo Magazine / 26
Halliwell has just completed her first season in China as a designer for the ItalianChinese brand Canto Motto. She has enjoyed the significant step up from assistant designer to designer and thrives off having sole responsibility for a collection. Halliwell faces the English-Mandarin language barrier on a dayto-day basis but thoroughly enjoys the challenge. It is clear that Halliwell is willing to face many obstacles in order to create a successful collection. Her openminded mentality appears to be the key to her success. If you’d like to find out more contact her at sophielhalliwell@gmail. com or visit her website www.sophiehalliwell.com By Pela Millard
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Designer: Sophie Halliwell Photographer: Nicole Verity MUA and Hair: Rebecca Anderton Model: Charlotte Pullen
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Caroline S h e r ato n Caroline Sheraton is passionate that fashion design demonstrates the characteristics of a person. She believes that it is a method of communication that represents part of a personality. Sheraton follows Vera Wang’s brand very closely and recognises the femininity in the designs. She appreciates how the pieces are often stimulated with texture and embellishments and include flattering cuts that perfectly accentuate the female form. Sheraton admires other labels such as Commes des Garçons and Hussein Chalayan, for pushing the boundaries of fashion with interesting silhouettes and materials. After graduating, Sheraton interned at Jane Bowler, Erdem and Christopher Raeburn gaining experience in designing, developing and production roles. As well as this, Sheraton is collaborating on a collection with fellow Northumbria graduate Vera Vossmeier. With Sheraton’s expertise in surface embellishment and Vossmeier’s background in menswear, the pair can draw on a number of skills to create an impressive collection. Sheraton’s graduate collection has deliberately been left nameless. During a trip to Egypt, she discovered the intricate detailing of Middle Eastern culture. Sheraton found that every surface is engagingly decorated with colour and texture and she based this as her starting point. Her designs are adorned with cut out stencilling and layers of gilded ceramics.
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She achieved this by using laser cut pieces and linking acrylic tiles to create a unique approach to chainmail. Traditional Egyptian dress is also reflected in the collection using adorned cloth and wrapping it close to the body to create a contemporary silhouette. The colour is very minimal in the collection; there is an array of whites, metallics and nudes in order to focus the attention to the textures. When creating the collection, Sheraton had to decide upon fabrics that would be soft enough to manipulate around the body whilst being strong enough to hold tiles from. Sheraton hung the tiles with eyelets and jump rings. She experimented with fusible to strengthen silk duchess, satin and chiffon. If you’d like to find out more contact her at carolinesheraton@live. co.uk or visit her online portfolio h t t p : / / w w w. a r t s t h re a d . c o m / profile/carolinesheraton/ By Pela Millard
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Caroline
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Designer: Caroline Sheraton Photographer: Rebecca Elizabeth Tate Stylist: Harriet Moiser
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Q and A
gr ace cr ich In a special interview with Grace Crich a Fashion Design and Technology graduate from Manchester Metropolitan University, Novvo found out a great deal about what it’s like to both study and work within this busy industry.
Q and A Aimee Green Tell me a bit about yourself? I have always loved being creative in one way or another. I love to mix media with photography and drawing when designing to bring my designs to life. I’ve always been inspired by the work of Japanese Designers like Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo and Issey Miyake.
Tells us a bit about your latest collection? My latest collection was my graduate collection simply called ‘Graduate Collection.’ It was based around ancient Japanese’s samurais as these have always been of interest to me. Where did the inspiration for your project come from? I came across a book in the library “History of contemporary Japanese photography” and with the book being completely in Japanese the imagery stood out as powerful and the hidden understanding made more of an impact. The collection of images were so beautiful in showing life in Japan at that time. Novvo Magazine / 34
Designer/Stylist: Grace Crich Photographer: Jason Mitchell Model: Mike Knight
How did you reflect the Japanese culture in your Fabrics? I used a lot of wools in varying weights, denim, cotton, Cupro, leather, suede and cord. The leather, suede and cord were used to weave a new material used as show pieces.
Q and A Aimee Green Did you have any issues with your project how did you overcome these? From the beginning there were problems, as a young designer trying to source fabrics is always difficult however I created a lot of designs that enabled me to make the most of what I found. Recreating your own fabrics is a great way to give your collection a different edge. What experience do you have working in the industry? Since I’ve been able to work, I have worked in retail. I’ve worked as a Childrenswear/Babywear Assistant Garment Technologist for 14 months for a leading Supermarket Brand. Most recently, I moved to Berlin and did a 5-month Internship at an Independent
Menswear Brand called Blank Etiquette and we had two showrooms in Paris to present our Aw16/17 Collection. Do you have any personal projects or collections you are working on? At the moment I am not working on any projects, but I have been collecting things that interest me from vintage shops, car boot sales and charity shops and I’m starting to sketch some ideas and take inspiration for where the next project will go. By Alex Donald Contact: gracecrich@hotmail.com Website: Gracecrich@hotmail.com
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S a nt i a g o Ú t t i m a As a youngster, Santiago Úttima’s family owned a womenswear business meaning that he has always felt a close link to the apparel industry. Úttima began studying Fashion Design at the age of sixteen and likes to communicate a utopic universe through his designs. Behind all of Úttima’s garments is a well established story. Not only is he a designer, but the representative of the Arts of Fashion Foundation Colombia. As a graduate designer, Úttima created ten looks that constituted ‘Avistamiento 1.0’. He was then asked to present a larger collection in Chile at INACAP University and this is the reason for the further developed ‘Avistamiento 2.0’. The collection ‘Avistamiento 1.0 & 2.0’ is inspired by the longing for a retrofuturistic childhood whilst addressing astronomy from a platonic viewpoint. The collection looks at how the eclipse, as a phenomenon, still amazes adults the same way it does children. From his research, Úttima draws upon the transiting circular shapes, experimental silhouettes, faces and the colour transition when the moon meets the sun. In ‘Avistamiento 1.0 & 2.0’, Úttima used different types of wool for tailoring. He decided upon wool because it allows garments to look well constructed whilst also seeming natural and refined. Some of the fabrics went through a laser process to simulate the gases and sedimentations of the planets. In other fabrics, the woven construction simulates the effects of retro images. During the creative process, Úttima took a masterclass at Les Arts Decoratifs Museum in Paris where he was able to improve his draping and pattern making skills. The second part of the collection features much cleaner lines on the garments. It is a developed version of the initial collection and Úttima translates the eclipse faces on to flat constructions on the garments. Úttima is currently working on officially launching his brand and creating a new collection. It is said to be inspired by the relative theory, wormholes and time and space dimensions but also maintaining a sentimental background. Designer: Santiago Úttima Photographer: Estudio SilvaMoreno Hair & Make up: Daniela Uribe Model: Maria Antonia Prieto
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If you’d like him at
to
find out more contact santiago.uttima@gmail.com By Pela Millard
Designer: Santiago Ăšttima Photographer: Estudio SilvaMoreno Hair & Make up: Dora Veronica Simson Model: Mariana Alvarez
Photographer: Nilyma Khan Model: Bryony Robertson MUA: Isabelle Brand
T h e p r i nt L au ren A n d e rso n Fashion Design graduate Lauren Anderson presents her latest collection ‘A Head Full of Flowers’. A refreshing display of decorative materials and floral-based patterns. From a young age, Anderson pursued and engaged with creative outlets such as fine art, hand made jewellery and customised accessories. More latterly she has gained a depth of knowledge from her involvement within Merchandising, Accessory Design, Print Design and Studio Assistant roles. She currently occupies the role of Print Design Assistant in menswear for Ted Baker as well as doing freelance work for Semple. Anderson is motivated by an array of designers. She appreciates the quirkiness of Vivetta and Henry Holland, the kitsch influence in Jeremy
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Scott’s designs, and Muiccia Prada’s work for Mui Mui. Another significant designer for Anderson is Alessandro Michele who she quotes to be a “genius”. These brands and designers inspire Anderson’s love of “over-the-top” designs, fuelled with eccentric colour and detail. The inspiration for ‘A Head Full of Flowers’ derived from the youth of the 1960’s, the British seaside and swimwear trends. Anderson was aware that looking directly at the fashion styles and shapes of the 60’s might cause her to literally translate them into her work. Instead, she attempted to capture what she called the “essence and vibe” of the decade. She did so by researching various art collections, events, music and science that was prominent during the period. Through this, she built up an understanding of the culture.
This approach gave Anderson a “carefree attitude and joyful approach” to her work. The research, design period, and final construction lasted six months. The most captivating part of ‘A Head Full of Flowers’ is arguably the fascinating patterns and materials used. Anderson decided upon cotton and silks as the base fabrics. She added synthetic decorative elements to establish the kitsch influences and create vibrant, postmodern patterns. With this collection and three recent collaborations, Anderson has been establishing herself as a Print Design specialist. She has collaborated with FILA Sports x Marion Bartoli, designing prints and garments for a ‘sports meets fashion’ inspired collection that launched last month. She has also been working with London’s Natural History Museum on print designs. Most recently, she has collaborated with Semple, designing an exclusive dress launching later this summer. The future for Lauren Anderson appears to be as bright and creative as the patterns and materials used in her latest collection. By Pela Millard Contact: laurenvanderson@live.co.uk Website: www.laurenvanderson.wix.com/fashion
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Lauren an derson p r i nt f e a ďż˝ ture
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Designer: Lauren Anderson Photographer: Simon Armstrong
h e l e n a C o lv i n Designer: Helena Colvin Model: Georgia Gordon
Manchester Metropolitan University 2015 Fashion Design & Technology graduate Helena Colvin is originally from Bristol, where she grew up and went to school before moving to Manchester. After living in what is now one of her favourite cities for 3 years, she made the move to London last year. Colvin finds it interesting how personal designing can be, she thinks that’s what she love about it.
“There are so many different ways to create and experiment that you’ll never get the same outcome, however they all seem to relate to my personal aesthetic which is quite relaxed and effortless.” A photography book by Iain McKell called ‘The New Gypsies’ inspires Colvin’s graduate collection. It was the gypsy communities
approach to dressing and their open and free mindset, which she wanted to express in her collection. The silhouettes came from lots of experimentation, particularly through changing how a garment ‘should’ be worn, and moving this on to create new shapes and structures. The collection embraces deconstruction, and challenges the conventionality of garments. Colvin is currently working a new collection, although it’s in its early stages, it’s following the same lines as her graduate project by challenging the functionality of certain garments, but is more inspired by texture and movement of the body which will create the silhouettes. By Molly Barham Contact: helena-colvin@hotmail.co.uk Website: http://helenacolvin.wix.com/helenacolvin 41 / Novvo magazine
Designer: Heather Hall Photographer: Joe McGivern Model: Phoebe Tan CMPR Hair: Blu Hairdressing
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h e at h e r h a l l Irish designer Heather Hall finds inspiration in the ordinary. She has a knack for finding shapes and silhouettes from day to day objects and using them as design elements. With her graduate project ‘BISH - The Unseen Utility’, Hall was interestingly influenced by futuristic kitchen utensils and appliances. ‘BISH - The Unseen Utility’ is about, “the transcendence of objects that are routinely perceived as objects of function displayed through the eyes of a designer”. Hall wanted to create an innovative collection that combines minimalistic structured design with high quality fabrication whilst still being commercially viable. The collection features muted grey and white tones with clean and understated lines. Hall has used raglan sleeves and panels as signature elements. Whilst creating the collection, Hall predominantly used medium weight neoprene along with boiled wool and chino twill. She wanted to use fabrics that would withhold shaping and have an element of structure. The neoprene allowed the collection to project a futuristic demeanour and contrasted with the more conventional fabrics. With the choice of neoprene, Hall discovered some problems in the manufacturing. Due to its thickness, she soon realised that the fabric was too thick to sew to the facing, potentially compromising the high standard of finish. To combat this, Hall decided to leave parts of the garment with a raw edge and topstitch 2mm to strengthen it. During the process she also experimented with laser cutting areas of the neoprene and boiled wool. Despite adjusting the settings on the laser and experimenting with different methods, Hall realised that the laser was leaving a faint burn mark on the garments and had to come up with an alternative method. After the completion of her design degree at Ulster University, Belfast in June 2015, Hall has started her own label, HEATHER HALL. She is currently designing from her own studio in Cookstown and sampling for an AW 2016 collection. The collection will contain some classic duo combinations. Hall is incorporating wide sleeves and trousers focusing on mid length, and has decided on a soft neutral colour palette that is contrasted with deep navy and warm rustic orange. She hopes that the collection will contain a balance of classic and cool staples; it will be available to purchase in July of this year. By Pela Millard Contact: hall-h@hotmail.com Website: www.heather-hall.com
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A imee Green
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Liverpudlian designer Aimée Green always wanted to join in with her mum whenever she was using her sewing machine, wanting to help out and play with the cotton reels. Both Green’s Mum and Aunty are very creative and love to design and sew. Green loves designing because she loves being creative and she thinks of design as a lifestyle, as she has been influenced from such a young age. To her, it doesn’t feel like work or a job because she enjoys doing it so much “From the very
initial research stage, to seeing the garment being worn by someone makes it all worth it.”
The idea for Green’s final collection called ‘Dressing Down Dior’ came from researching into silhouettes from Dior and how they have changed and adapted over the years. She felt there was a need to bring back some of the famous silhouettes Dior was known for, presenting these in a way that appealed to young trendy people. To do this, she took inspiration from an artist called Rothko who creates abstract paintings using paintbrush strokes in bright vibrant colours. The main fabrics used were Mohair in orange and pink, yellow PVC and digitally printed satin dupion.
Designer: Aimee Green Model: Leah Heywood
Green would describe herself as specialising in denim and fabrics and she also works with a lot faux leather, suede, twills, and corduroy fabrics. During her time at university, Green completed a year placement with Matalan where she was involved in the design process from the initial research right up to seeing the product in store ready to buy. This placement allowed her to strive within a team and develop vital skills as a designer from an early start. If you’d like to find out more contact her at aimee_green@hotmail.com or visit her online portfolio at http://www. artsthread.com/profile/aimee-green/ By Molly Barham
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j e ss lo ng “I am an eccentric, quirky designer”,
claims Jess Long. Fascinated by culture and subcultures, Long is inspired by her everyday surroundings. She takes pleasure in thinking of others wearing her designs to express themselves and because of this, Long prides herself on her work being distinctive. Since graduating from Norwich University, Long has utilised the knowledge she gained from her Fashion Ba Hons course and taken it with her into the working world. She currently works as a personal stylist, and thrives off being able to use her creativity on a day-to-day basis. The collection brought to us today, is ‘Rebel Revolution’, Long’s graduate project. She was originally inspired and frustrated by the “current climate” of our country. After establishing that, she turned her attentions towards the ‘2013 PUNK: Chaos to Couture Exhibition’ at the Metropolitan Museum, New York. The exhibition examined the ‘Punk’ impact on high fashion, from its birth in the 1970’s to today. From this she narrowed her influences down more specifically to the ‘Punk’ subculture and
assessing how to make it more current. She argues that many of the issues initially brought to our attention by the ‘Punk’ group are still relevant today, for example the lack of jobs, money and housing for young people. Through her collection, Long hopes to express the anger that was felt during the movement in her designs, using modern and daring prints. Long predominantly uses shirt weight cotton as her choice of fabric, but also uses heavier furnishing cottons and a thick wool for the main coat. The collection features a mass of red and navy blue, in keeping with the punk inspired union jack logo. The striped and tartan prints also add to the authenticity of the ‘Punk’ subculture, although lining up the tartan prints originally proved to be a problematic part of the creation process for Long. She had to grasp how to match up the prints, and then deliberately cause them to clash in order to create a fresh interpretation of the 70’s subculture. By Pela Millard Contact: Jesslong92@gmail.com Website: http://jesslong92.wix.com/jessicalong
Designer: Jess Long Photographer: Emily Jane Morgan
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fer n a n da goodship Fernanda Goodship has Spanish heritage that she has never explored. She often wonders how different her life could have been if she had met her Spanish father, and been surrounded by family who occupy a different culture and lifestyle. This hidden aspect of her life has inspired her AW collection ‘The Walk of Wonder’, which was showcased last month at Edinburgh Fashion Week. After leaving her native Blackpool, Goodship Novvo Magazine 46 at Edinburgh decided to study Fashion /Design
Designer: Fern Goodship Photographer: Edyta Stala
University. She discloses, “Designing makes her feel free”. Goodship currently works in retail for Whistles. She also works as a stylist for photographers and assists on photo shoots for graduate collections. Goodship believes that women are no longer daring enough to wear unique clothes. She wants them to have courage and feel good in her collections. The clothes she designs are, “classic, elegant and sophisticated”, and are created to empower strong women. The
Designer: Fern Goodship Photographer: Scott Wilson
extravagant Lady Gaga may possibly influence her love of unique designs. Goodship is a big fan of Gaga, and strongly believes that Gaga helped her designing talents develop at University and throughout her career. ‘The Walk of Wonder’ is a tailored collection and the colour palette is unusually all royal blue with hints of red popping out. The collection is versatile: it is able to be dressed up or down, but sophistication is constant. Goodship decided upon the strong colour of blue and the tailored designs to emphasise the strength and glamour
of the women she is targeting. The occasional colour of red, and the recurrent use of ruffles in her designs, links the collection back to its Spanish heritage of matadors and flamenco dancers. The seven month process of creating the collection was not rid of challenges. Goodship sought out help from a textiles tutor in order to learn how to dye tulle. After experimenting and trying different formulas, she created different shades of blue that successfully took to the material. Goodship also suffered technical difficulties with her embroidery machine breaking a couple of times. After battling these problems, Goodship came through on the other side with an empowering Mediterranean inspired collection. After experiencing this hidden side of her life, it is an exciting prospect to wonder what else Goodship will reveal in forthcoming collections. By Pela Millard Contact: ferngoodship@gmail.com Website: http://fernandagoodship. wix.com/fernandagoodship
Designer: Fern Goodship Photographer: Sarah Elms
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T h e C r e at i o n Flora M u r u nga
Flora Murunga uses Fashion Design as a form of expression. Within all of her projects she likes to include aspects about herself, personally connecting with the work, and her latest collection ‘Closed Independent Identity’ is no exception. Murunga bases her most recent work upon an exploration of hidden identity. Murunga’s personal approach adds depth to projects and makes them enjoyable creative processes. She has gained experience at Ted Baker and Oasis, as well as assisting at Graduate and London Fashion Weeks. She is currently interning at PINGHE as a Fashion Design and Production intern. This summer, Murunga has plans to
work with a manufacturing company that will make and distribute her menswear/womenswear collections. In terms of influential designers, Alexander McQueen has been a lifelong inspiration for Murunga due to his “exceptional” designs. She is fascinated by the way that Iris Van Herpen revolutionises fashion and how she “pushes fashion to the limit through the use of technology and conventional materials”. As a designer Murunga admires architecture and ‘Closed Independent Identity’ takes inspiration from this as well as various instillation art.
The concept for ‘Closed Independent Identity’ is “exploring into one’s persona on being confident, bold, but with a hidden identity”. To depict this, Murunga uses disproportionate shapes and bold materials, and explores the silhouettes of the male and female body. After looking at architecture and installation art, Murunga sifted out geometric shapes to manipulate into her designs. She developed a cocooned shape silhouette in order to add an abstract and modern aspect to the collection. During the process, Murunga began with a large mans jumper. With this, she toiled one of the arms to assess how she could achieve the cocooned shape. She worked with ribbed and stretch jersey materials allowing for
stretch and comfort in the collection. The final collection for ‘Closed Independent Identity’ took Murunga five weeks to create. As it was the first time that she had designed menswear, the making of the final garment initially proved difficult. She found the pattern cutting for the menswear much more challenging than cutting for womenswear due to a lack of experience. After overcoming this obstacle, Murunga has developed another skill set as a designer, producing a contemporary and innovative collection. By Pela Millard Contact: Florah_murunga@hotmail.com Website: http://florahmurunga.wix.com/ portfolio
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Designer: Flora Murunga Photographer: Ileana Malacrino Model: Eman Olaoye
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El is abeth kamaris Fashion Design student Elisabeth Kamaris has combined her political stance and interests in revolutionary art forms to create the compelling womenswear collection ‘Mechanical Primordial’. ‘Mechanical Primordial’ is Kamaris’ recreation of a metaphorical puppet show. Through it, she reveals her firm beliefs about Western society. She quotes, “Essentially, we are all in place and constructed within this world to hold it all together”. Kamaris acknowledges the Capitalist ideologies of Globalisation and Imperialism that society is governed by. She foresees that this leaves us as puppets; incapable of fighting against the rules, laws and regulations that we disagree with.
Designer: Elisabeth Karamis Photographer: Joe.co.com
The art movement form DADA, culturally revolted against elitism and the ‘norm’ in art during the early twentieth century. From this experimental art era, Kamaris takes away the silhouettes and juxtapositions, and puts them to use in her collection. She also appreciates the early 1990’s Punk attitude towards art, favouring artists such as Man Ray. His artwork created a ‘snowballing’ motif in the art world and the rebellion of art influenced her thoughts behind the puppets rejecting society. To keep her work relevant, Kamaris decided upon a silver palette for her collection. She worked with a range of fabrics, each picked deliberately to represent different thematic aspects. The silk chiffon was used to pleat, and the distressed silver pig suede for the jumpsuits. Kamaris chose recycled wool for large pieces and bags, and regular wool to tailor the trousers. The distressed rope in the collection links directly to the puppet influence. Originally, the large white cotton rope was used by aerial acrobats and trapeze artists who belonged to the circus. If you’d like to find out more feel free to contact her at elisabethkamaris@hotmail. co.uk or visit her website by visiting elisabethkamaris.wix.com/elisabethkamaris By Pela Millar
Hannah ford Danish designer Hannah Ford moved to England at the age of sixteen to connect with her British roots. She found experiencing the array of creativity in London inspiring and her graduate collection ‘Law of Jante’ is heavily based around this together with her move from Denmark to England. When discussing inspiration, Ford admits to having a soft spot for Japanese designers. She is intrigued by their, “incredible sense of technique when it comes to pattern cutting and draping; it all seems so mysterious”. Ford also admires Marni, especially enjoying how playful they are with colours and silhouettes. She argues that dressing can be a magical experience; different clothes enable people to feel different things and express different parts of their personality. Ford’s collection ‘The Law of Jante’ is based upon the Scandinavian concept which is a set of ten social rules that still play a large part in determining how Danish society is built up. During the time of creating ‘Law of Jante’, Ford was also experiencing depression. The project acted as an outlet to help express and deal with her feelings.
The collection uses mostly silk crepe de chine. Ford combines this with wool mixed felt, Japanese wool and paper silk. The colours featured are predominantly midnight blue and white, with a pale yellow edging. When unable to source the silk in the specific midnight blue, Ford spent months in the dye lab developing the perfect colour of silk. During the creative process, Ford was often forced to think on her feet. She often trusted her own instincts. Ford highlights the importance of “bouncing ideas off friends”, enabling her as a designer to see other perspectives. By Pela Millard Contact: Hannah.kim.ford@gmail.com Website: www.hannahkimford.com
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Designer: Hannah Ford Photographer: Nash Masood Art Direction: Paris Seawell & Nash Masood Model: Raphaelle Kent
Olga N o v i k o va Olga Novikova sees fashion as a “life long affair”. She admits to having an incurably romantic soul; influencing her as an extremely feminine designer. From a young age, Novikova has been infatuated with big dresses, full skirts, corsets and embellishments. As a designer her signature style contains fine fabrics, embroidery and lavish embellishments. Novikova uses her designing talents as a form of escapism from day to day life; she quotes, “I can escape the reality for a while”. As her tastes would suggest, Novikova follows the Dior and Chanel Haute Couture creations closely. More recently she has discovered and related to the collections of Emilia Wickstead and Erdem. Novikova’s love of designing big dresses is heightened by her experience as a wedding dress designer. Being very hands on and she gets to experience many different
Designer: Olga Novikova Photographer: Honey Ataee MUA: Olivia Mclean
stages in the process including the designing, making, cutting, fitting and alterations stages. Novikova finds working with brides extremely satisfying and exhilarating. She also adds how emotional the shop can be during fittings! Novikova’s SS 2016 collection ‘Eternal Classic’ is a modern take on the traditional. Based on timeless pieces from every female’s wardrobe, Novikova works with dresses, jackets and trousers by taking them apart, changing the usual combinations and putting them back together again. A lot of the pieces have a ‘two in one feel’, especially the combinations of trousers and skirts. The collection is very flattering on the female form. Initially, when justifying her concepts to the tutors at Bournemouth Arts University, Novikova was told her collection would become “too pretty”. To combat this, she decided to change the fabrics she had originally decided upon, and to give the collection a contemporary aspect. Novikova incorporates feminine pinks and pastels with bold blues and reds to create a modern feel. After winning a competition from Parisian lace manufacturer Sophie Hallette, ‘Eternal Classic’ was made up of about 80% lace. Novikova matched the lace with satin, tulle, crepe and a multitude of crystals.
Designer: Olga Novikova Photographer: Rebecca Tate MUA: Charley Pilbro Model: Nika Tankaeva
By Pela Millard Contact: olga.novikova8@gmail.com
Haleema Naseer Nineteen year old Haleema Naseer is in her second year at Nottingham Trent University studying Fashion Design. Naseer’s creativity allows her to create and design innovative and original ideas. Despite her age, Naseer’s talent and hard work has already lead to some exciting opportunities. Her work has been showcased at Nottingham’s ‘Young Creative Awards’ and ‘48 Hours of Fashion VIP’. Naseer enjoys the lack of limitation within womenswear and for a while believed that she would solely focus on designing for women. After gaining some experience within menswear, Naseer took pleasure in designing simple cut garments and has now impressively collaborated with Menswear designer and former founder of All Saints, Bolongo Trevor.
Novvo Magazine / 54 Designer: Haleema Naseer Photographer: Melody Armstrong
Naseer welcomes simplicity and detail. One of her favourite designers, Paul Smith; often uses intricate colour palettes with simple print detailing, and Naseer follows in the same footsteps. She also follows high-end couture designers such as Ralph Russo, Zuhair Murad and Ellie Saab. They too create unusually cut garments accessorizing with highly embellished detailing. Her last SS collection ‘Colour Project’ was initially influenced by the architecture of modernised mosques in Dubai. When using Islamic architecture and translating it into fashion, Naseer understood that one has to be ‘gentle’ and respectful in doing so. The intricately dyed silk petals in the collection were inspired by the elegant floral patterns on the ceilings of the mosques. Naseer opted for a simple and subtle colour palette of teal blues, whites and greys. The grey wool cape was designed to add a free flowing, modest look to the collection. The fabrics used were Neoprene, wool, silk and silk blending. Naseer is currently in the midst of a new project ‘Innovation’. This will be the last academic project before she completes her third and final year at University. In this project, she hopes to expand more on simple detailing, prints, embroidery and laser cutting. By doing this, Naseer aims to enhance her skill set and be able to thrive in her final year. If you’d like to find out more feel free to contact her at haleemanaseer@ outlook.com or visit her website by visiting www.haleemanaseer.com By Pela Millar
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