Hello guys, I haven't blogged for a few weeks and I apologies for my lack of updates, the truth is
    now that I've finished uni I've had some time off away from my laptop I haven't been doing much
    of the networking side of things and have taken some time off from my laptop. The truth is the
    last couple of months at uni I spent so much of my time doing uni work on my laptop as well as
    keeping up to date with the blog and my other networking sites that I needed a break from staring
    at my screen every night. It's out my system now and back on full form.
    So the last few months have been crazy, schools out and I've had a great response from my
    graduate collection and I'm still working hard to get it out to people, at the beginning of the month
    it was the graduate fashion show for Derby University where my collection was showcased along
    side all my fellow 3rd year fashion buddies, I was so pleased with how the Jokers Quinn looked
    with all the cards moving exactly how I visioned they would! I got some lovely compliments and
    was over ecstatic with the whole show, a great ending for studying five years at University. I'm
    still waiting for some of the professional images but here's some I managed to snap from the show
    so I apologies for the quality.


   

 
  
   It's been great being able to be in the studio full time now, I signed the contract for it whilst at
   uni but wasn't using the space due to being at uni every day but it was wonderful having the space
   as soon as I finished. I've had an intern since March who's still with me now and whilst I was busy
   with my studies he was working on mood boards and colour boards for my S/S15 collection which
   is now in full swing, I don't want to give to much away as this is going to be my biggest colletion
   to date (in terms of pieces) and it's also very different to my usual ideas which can sometimes be a
   little eccentric and "out there" we've been busy in the studio and it feels great! I'm so inspired and
   so eager to make and be creative everyday which is a drastic change to how I felt whilst I was
   working at home, the studio has certainly helped my creative side as well as my motivation.
   here's some snaps of some of the pieces for the new collection.

 

 

   I've also been working on a new jewellery collection, again I don't want to give to much away as
   it's a Jewellery collection that also coincides with my S/S15 clothing collection. I did however take
   a few pieces to a craft fair I did last weekend and they went down really well! I'm really pleased
   how the colours work together, I've been working with some beautiful beads and agate glass as well
   as starting to play around with feathers which is something I've wanted to do for a while. I would
   also like to point out that I have great customers, at my latest fair I had my favorite flowers (lilies)
   brought for me.

 

   

   During my Last month at uni I was also commissioned to make two bridesmaids dresses for a very
   close friend of mine, the dresses are simple and exactly how she wanted them and it was truly an
   honor to make them and be apart of her special day in more ways than one! Again I'm waiting to
   get my hands on the professional images, as I want to dedicate a blog post just for her and her
   special day as it certainly was an incredibly beautiful day, but here is a 'bridesmaid selfie' to keep
   you going!

  

   Thank you for stopping by, Adios Amigos!  
   
    

A Twsited Love Affair part two

Last week I launched the first half of my graduate collection A Twisted Love Affair and so far we have had a great response, I couldn't be happier with the results of the collection as well as the behind the scenes video! Now it's time to launch part two of the collection, are you ready? When I was preparing and getting ideas down for what kind of shoots I wanted to go for as well as different looks to coincide with my theme and concept, I decided quite early on I wanted to use a court room, the reason for this was that I wanted to use the court room to express Harley Quinn in her original form. I looked back into the history of real life harlequins and what their role in court was which I found really interesting and the more I read the more I could see how much of this new found knowledge has influenced my collection. One of the most fascinating pieces of evidence discovered was how the real Harlequins of court had a lower status than a Jester but were always the center of the King's battle plans, which if you look at the comic books Harley Quinn is always the center of the Joker's plans and he does use her the way a king would. It was whilst reading and researching I learned more about the fabrics that Harlequins would wear such as the diamond print which I decided to laser cut for this coquettish creation.

The diamond print refers to the outcasts of society and some of the uniforms that have been assigned to them throughout history, such as diamonds for fools or stripes for the insane or criminal. As fashion evolved the diamond print has found it's way into modern usage and has been endlessly re-imagined into the the checks and hound tooth patterns that are so familiar today. You can see this clearly in the suit below which draws its palette from The Joker of the DC comics but uses the hound tooth check to ground this fictional character in our real world. This isn't just a suit for the Joker but for anyone who might find themselves, willingly or otherwise, swimming against society's tide.

A stroke of luck came when I decided to pursue the University of Derby's court room as the setting for one of my shoots. This location quickly developed into the inspiration for the finale of the the short film A Crime of Fashion that has been created to accompany this collection and incorporates all the designs and creates an entirely original narrative from which to view my work. It drew on our original ideas and built on the work of the illustrator Drew Askew who I commissioned to create a comic for this collection, with the intention of allowing my audience a range of mediums through which this collection can be interpreted. This collaboration has proved to be hugely successful and has gone a long way to bring my designs to life and express the violent, chaotic, amoral and at times charming nature of these two characters that have inspired me so much.

So without any further ado I am immensely pleased to bring you our short film A Crime of Fashion. I sincerely hope you all enjoy watching it as much as we have enjoyed making it and I can assure you this is an avenue I will be pursuing again in the future.  As always we would love to read your comments and feedback so please don't hesitate to get in touch. Much love xx

A Twisted Love Affair...

It gives me great pleasure to finally present to you all my final year of University graduate collection, man it feels good to say that!! I've been working extremely hard since last September with my focus solely committed to this project! During last summer whilst out on my DPP (placement year) it was time to start putting concept ideas together to present to my tutors on my return to university, I had no idea what I wanted to do or even the slightest clue of where to start, all I knew is that I wanted it to be big and completely out there! I needed it to be a challenge, I had to push my limits and my imagination but at the same time I wanted it to be something special to me and something that I love.
It was one evening I treated my self to some wine, put my feet up and decided to watch The Dark Knight which happens to be one of my favorite films. I was half way through the film when I was inspired, I don't know how or why but my head was exploding with ideas. I could say it was purely down to Heath Ledgers performance as the Joker but I've always been fascinated with that character, he has no boundaries and Ledgers performance inspired me so much because he portrayed the character in such a way I had never see before and if I'm perfectly honest I don't think there will be anyone else who could top his incredible performance!

At first I was just focusing my collection around the Joker but through my research and sketching process I found myself spending more time in the local comic shop, it was here that I picked up a Sirens comic when it all clicked! I couldn't do a collection based on the Joker without including his chaotic girlfriend into the mix, so I introduced Harley Quinn and boooom! I started to see clearly where I could take this collection. What I really wanted to do was incorporate fashion and costume together from a different point of view.
It's fair to say I was nervous about how my tutors would react as sometimes I felt like I was fighting a loosing battle to persuade others how or why comic and fashion could meet as equals without it looking like my collection was solely aimed at comic cons but I'm glad I stuck to my guns and saw it through to the end, the collection took a lot of work and extra hours as four out of the six outfits had some form of laser cut techniques especially "The Jokers Quinn" which is a full length a-line skirt with over 700 laser cut Joker cards.

 One of my proudest moments of the collection I think for me and House of Denham (who created the artwork) was actually going ahead with the scripted suit which I decided to call 'A Scripted Man' which is a custom made tailored suit with the The Dark Knight script by Christopher Nolan digitally printed over cotton drill.  The collection itself is based on the relationship between the two characters as well as historical references such as actual Harlequins and the costumes they had to wear, I linked the characters together through fabrics and the techniques of laser cutting which really helped to push my boundaries and limits. All in all I spent over 200 hours laser cutting and I can honestly say I it was well worth it.  I worked along side some amazing people who contributed massively to the ending of the collection such as my amazing MUA Lizzie Mazza who I have had the pleasure of working with on many occasions, I also got to work along side Ben Cope a fantastic hair stylist from the Francesco Group in Derby. A big well done and thank you to my Harley Quinns, Sianne Tudge, Sophie Kelman and Coral Bell who actually runs S!LK Model Management and not only did she model her self but also supplied my Joker, Alex Hannah. Last but not least I would like to say a huge thank you and a big well done to my amazing team of photographers and film produces Liam Enser and Ash Stanley from Artifex Studios and Victoria Denham who not ony has contributed greatly to this project through artwork and film making but she has been my rock throughout the last year and has been with me every step of the way! My team rocks I love you all, here they are hard at work in our Behind the Scenes video!

Well anyway guys, I really hope you have enjoyed reading this post and I hope even more you like the collection, please feel free to leave any feedback and comments as I would love to hear your thoughts! Until the next time amigos x