Graduate Fashion Week
is an important time of year for the fashion industry, more than 40
universities showcase their brightest graduates, and FashionUnited was once
again on the ground to scour the catwalk presentations and portfolios to
highlight some of the next generation of fashion designers you need to
watch out for.
Over the next month, FashionUnited will showcase 10 promising fashion
graduates across womenswear, menswear and childrenswear who impressed us
with their collections. First up, is Hazel Symons from De Montfort
University, who scooped the prestigious Christopher Bailey Gold Award, as
well as the Creative Catwalk collection accolade for her monochrome
collection of tailored pieces that were bolted rather than sewn.
After her win, FashionUnited chatted to the talented womenswear
designer to find out more about the inspiration behind her innovative
collection, the techniques she used, her plans for the future, as well as
her advice for aspiring fashion designers.
“I’ve been into art and design since a young age and my family are very
crafty people. My mother’s side of the family were seamstresses and my
father’s side were more textile and knitters. My dad is very good at maths
and woodwork, so all in all, I was pretty much destined to go into
something artsy. When I was quite young, my nan taught me how to sew on her
old crank-handled singer machine, and my grandmother taught me embroidery,
and so my pathway into fashion has grown from that.”
“Over the summer, my dad and I made my portfolio case, which is made of
recycled wood and is fixed in place using a series of piano hinges and
screw posts. This got me thinking about how the screw posts could possibly
be used to construct garments, and I came up with the idea of having a
series of tab fastenings which allow the garments to be fully
deconstruct-able and to enable panels to be replaced with other panels.
“The overall concept is like a Lego store, so you would go in, pick out
what panels you wanted, buy the required washers, screws and hardware, pick
up some instructions, and take it home and make it yourself. Some garments
are more complex to construct and so they need a longer construction time,
however, no garment takes longer to construct than a normal piece of IKEA
furniture (Yes, I timed it!). The longest piece to construct was the trench
coat, as it took nearly 4 hours in total.”
“I produced my own fabric for my final collection, which consists of
felt bonded to cotton drill, shirting fabrics bonded together, and double
bonded cotton drill. The fabric gives the garments a unique silhouette and
drape, and it works really well with the connector fastenings.
“The garments do fasten normally with buttons, though, for easy access.
But all of the panels are screwed together and are able to lie flat when
deconstructed, including the darts.”
“Very tailored, there’s a technique used within tailoring called baste
stitching, which is what influenced my prints and embellishments; I wanted
to modernise something very traditional. The overall feel to the collection
is very crafty, and everything is done by hand from the bonding, cutting,
hole making, hand painting and embroidery!
“The project was also driven by pattern cutting processed and thoughts
and methods. Every pattern piece is precise to 2mm, otherwise, it wouldn’t
fit together.”
“My signature pieces would defiantly be the trench coat and kilt
because they are just so detailed and powerful.”
“Graduate Fashion Week is an amazing opportunity for students and
universities. It’s always a hectic couple of days, especially backstage,
but it gives you a short glimpse of just how much work and organisation
going into putting a show together. I met a lot of wonderfully creative
people at GFW as well. I’ve had an amazing amount of support from
everyone.”
“I come from Cornwall, and so right from the start I knew that I didn’t
want to study in London, as it would have been a too bigger jump too soon
for me, however, I wanted good access to London. I knew that I wanted to
study away from home because personally that’s part of the university
experience. I looked at a lot of different universities, but I fell in love
with De Montfort within 5 minutes of being there. Once I was accepted onto
the course, the decision was easy.”
“I’ve learnt a lot of valuable things whilst at DMU. I’ve learnt how to
take criticism and how to deal with stress. University teaches you a lot of
valuable life lessons as well as education.”
“I’d like to do my MA degree at some point soon, but I feel that some
industry experience into learning something new would greatly benefit the
work that produce in my MA. I want to continue with my current construction
methods, but I want to find something new that’ll bring it to the next
level.”
“I’ve done various bits of work experience from seamstress work,
graphics design, voluntary work and dressing. The most valuable placement
that I have done was volunteering in the Fashion archives at the local
museum. The past is important, especially in fashion. I think students need
to learn to use archives more, you never know what you’ll find. I was given
free time each day to explore and document the archives, which were a great
resource for me in my third year.”
“My advice to anyone who wants to study fashion is: Make your course
decision wisely, there are a lot of different fashion courses out there and
each university teaches them differently. Be prepared to work very, very
long hours, you have to be self-motivated, work hard, and don’t be afraid
to try new things.
“Also, get off the internet when you’re doing research. Go to the
library or visit an exhibition that takes your fancy. You’ll find more
inspiration for new material from people watching on the streets than you
ever will from looking at work that’s already out there. Also, save up some
money, you’ll need it, and learn that the key is in the details!”
Follow Hazel:
Instagram: @h_symo17
Twitter: @h_symo17
Images: courtesy of Hazel Symons