Lilly is a 2nd year fashion design student from Stroud, Gloucestershire. She describes her designs as mainly being of an experimental nature and, with regard to art in a more general sense, takes interest mostly in portraiture and often also dabbles with biro sketches.
So why are you drawn to fashion designing? “In all honesty, designing is one of the only things I feel I can actually do fairly competently. I’ve always had an interest in art, and I found that fashion in particular drew me in the most which is why I chose to pursue fashion. Also, in my opinion fashion nowadays isn’t thought about enough from a design perspective and instead people often make obscure pieces just for attention and the financial gains you can get from that.
Any design inspirations? “My main design inspiration is the work of Hussein Chalayan. As cliché as it may sound, to me he pushes the boundaries of fashion in ways few others do. He makes transforming fashion that changes as you wear it, for example clothing that even dissolves in parts to alter the piece. Work such as his inspires me to try things no one has thought of before.”
What impact would you like your designs to have? “When I think about designing fashion, my end goal is to produce something that makes people do a double take. I want people to look twice. I want to get their attention. If what I’ve designed makes people think, then I feel I’ve achieved something.”
Finally, what is the most important item of clothing to your personal style? “My hats. For me, they complete any outfit and are great at bringing all the colours together.”