Designers profile: Holly Fulton

Holly Fulton is a quickly-rising London fashion designer, who graduated from Edinburgh College of Art with a BA (Hons) in fashion in 1999 and debuted at London Fashion Week her A/W 2009 collection.

According to her words, she creates pieces that she ”would want to wear or think is right at the time” and she finds inspiration in, “art deco; pop intense qualities, aboriginal art; jewelery in many forms; collections of all kinds of things, including 60s clocks, Swedish glass, books of any sort and others.”

“The ethos of my work is to capture a couture finish and an attention to detail within ready to wear. I aim to re-interpret the traditions of handwork and the use of techniques within couture into contemporary materials and silhouettes to create strong, cohesive collections of womenswear and jewellery. The use of decorative surfaces is vital within my work and I am constantly endeavouring to create a challenging yet beautiful surface which pushes the boundaries of modern fashion.

My working technique begins with drawing extensively and working through my references with constant re-interpretation. I believe the sheer amount of work and processes involved in producing my work makes it slightly unique. I love the extra dimension working with different materials has brought to my design, from crystallised elements to electrical cables. The scope for future exploration of materials continually pushes me and my work”, reveals Holly Fulton. 

Show of the 1959 Chanel collection

A little bit of inspiration from  history: 

Designers at work: Yves Saint Laurent’s fashion drawings

“Ballet Russes”, Fall/Winter 1976-1977

In the documentary Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times, the legendary designer was revealing these facts about the way he creates through drawing: “When I pick up a pencil I don’t know what I will draw. Nothing is planned. It’s the miracle of the moment. I start with a woman’s face, and suddenly the dress follows, or the garment takes shape. It’s a very pure form of creation, without any preparation, without any vision.and it is what impresses me most. This surge of thoughts. This capacity of creating clothes. No one’s more amazed than me. when the design is done I’m very happy. Sometimes it works. Sometimes not. Then, you must stop drawing, go and do something else. But you will always come back to the paper and pencil.” 

“Toreador”, Fall/Winter 1979

“Le Smoking”, Fall/Winter 1966

“Homage to Braque”, Spring/Summer 1988

Lagerfeld Confidenciel

This is how Rodolphe Marconi called his film featuring Karl Lagerfeld. Here’s a short preview… and I can’t wait to buy it and see it.

« This film is something not real :  It’s something not real about reality. And I think Rodolphe got it in a very modern pointing way. » Karl Lagerfeld

Synopsis:

Fascinated by the “man behind the sunglasses”, Rodolphe Marconi has been contemplating a documentary about Karl Lagerfeld for over ten years. With the groundbreaking feature film, “Lagerfeld Confidential”, Rodolphe Marconi allows us to see beyond the “Karl mystery”. Karl Lagerfeld himself becomes fully involved in the project, entrusting the director with his everyday life. For the first time Karl Lagerfeld has agreed to let someone create an artwork on his every day life and to trust in the director. Until today there is no authorised biography existing and the memories who Karl Lagerfeld would compose stay perfectly confidential. Rodolphe Marconi immediately started to work after their first meeting. He then associated with Gregory Bernard and the company REALITISM FILMS to finance the project, exclusively due to private investors. After three years of work, and over three hundred hours of footage, Rodolphe Marconi discloses the daily life of the star through his personal lens as a filmmaker. The spectator gains a philosophical insight into his personal history and his obsessions: designing a dress in private, giving public interviews, his time and work as a photographer, his collection of art books, Chanel, Fendi, Lagerfeld Gallery (now “Karl Lagerfeld” brand), the most beautiful women in the world, actresses and stars from around the world. The camera of Rodolphe Marconi approaches a hyperactive lifestyle in the closest way. And we discover between the lines the hidden moments of solitude, sorrow, reading, profoundness. The director discovers an intellectual insomniac with a thirst for literature, films and paintings, a fan of Art Deco and contemporary art; a lover of aesthetics in the extreme as well as luxury. Karl Lagerfeld reveals his caracter : affectionate and authoritarian, humerous, with a longing for farces and make someone laugh, to surprise and to appear always there where you would’t expect him to be. Rodolphe Marconi discovers the shattering moments of a life, a solitary man hurt by the death of the person beloved, a man who however doesn’t bear the nostalgia : « If life was really better before, there would be no reason now to continue ». 

Fashion designers in Disney, by Ulrich Schroder

You know I love so much the topic of alternative promoting of fashion.

Now, here’s what I’ve discovered: in Elle Spain April issue, Ulrich Schroder transported some of the top world designers into the Disney world. Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano, Marc Jacobs, John Paul Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana and Donnatella Versace, just to list a few, have been illustrated as everybody’s beloved cartoon characters. Naturally, I instantly thought about these cartoons as a way of promoting in fashion. Totally different and totally viral.

Just look at them and say if you wouldn’t simply love to spread the news, or more exactly the cartoons!

Shoe Design for Beginners

Is the name of a short course, happening in London, at Central Saint Martins Collage of Art and Design, between the 6th and the 10th of September, 2010. Its prices is £375. 

The tutor of the course is Darla-Jane Gilroy, graduate of St Martin’s School of Art and freelance fashion and footwear designer.

Shoes designed by Terhi Pölkki

This is how CSM presents this shoe design short course: 

 Shoes have always been an integral part of any fashion story, conveying concisely the influences and moods of the era. This introductory course will include a history of footwear, an introduction to the last, drawing and designing for different types of footwear, presentation techniques, sole design and upper materials. The course ends with a practical design exercise to illustrate the interactive nature of footwear design and fashion with basic construction used in the footwear industry. Due to the technicalities and processes of this course you must have good spoken English skills.

If you are in Europe or traveling to Europe and you are a shoe design aficionado/a, you shouldn’t miss this course. I’m urging you to attend it, as I attended myself a short course of fashion drawing, last year, at CSM and I was simply amazed by the amount of useful things I learned and practiced during one single week. 

By then, read an interesting interview with the shoe designer, Terhi Pölkki…. and hurry up to book your place, as they are limited. 

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Design Schools: Central Saint Martins Collage of Art and Design

What is a collection?

“All creation is just recreation - a new way of seeing the same things and expressing them differently.” Yves Saint Laurent 

A collection is a set of garments and accessories, designed and produced for sale to retailers or to direct customers, for a season or a particular occasion, and presented in a variety of forms, some of them being: catwalk shows, lookbooks, websites. 

Chanel, Haute Couture Fall 2010.

A collection can be inspired by a particular trend, theme, cultural, historic or social setting. 

For example, in its Fall 2010 Haute Couture collection, Chanel used as inspiration medieval costumes worn not only by princesses, but also by peasants. As a result, one have oversize silhouettes, jewel tones and highly adorned garments.

In further posts, we’ll talk about who and what is involved in the process of developing a collection, from sketching to its promotion. 

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