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!
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 The collection itself is based on the relationship between the two characters as well as historical references such as actual Harlequins and the costumes they had to wear, I linked the characters together through fabrics and the techniques of laser cutting which really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
