Inspirations-the woman wearing my dresses.I always have the image of the type of woman I like to see in my dresses in my head or ripped out of magazines and pinned to an image board. I like to imagine what her life is like and design to this imaginary character. She's like a Muse to me in design. Women like Raquel Welch from the 70's- think mega glamour and of course big hair!I always just use my image bored to raid though magazines and stick pictures up of details and colour combinations I like.
WHERE DID I STUDY?I studied at Edinburgh College of Art- a four year fashion BA Hons. I went to a 6 month private portfolio course before to build a portfolio to get into Art school.
HOW LONG HAVE I WORKED FOR MYSELF-It took me a while to work out what I wanted to do and what avenue I wanted to go into in design and as soon as I designed a dress for Miss Universe Contestant I knew that was my thing! That was a year ago and since then I have been sewing like mad and have been lucky enough even to have Gok Wan compliment my dress when worn at Miss Scotland.
PLANS FOR THE FUTUREI plan on designing set styles in set colours and selling them wholesale to boutiques. This way I will get my dresses on the rail in an actual shop but I have to look into costing as the shops take a big cut of the dresses and if I can lower my material costs I will still be able to make a profit. The best way of selling though is directly to the customer as there is more profit there but shops get people seeing your designs.
IMPORTANT IN DESIGN
Be true to yourself!Make sure you do not loose who you are in a design to cater for someone else. Don't stray too far from your aesthetic. And make sure you pay yourself enough!! It's easy to get so emotionally attached to your work but remember it has to pay the bills!!
