Tendai Motiwa is a final year Fashion Design Student from De Montfort University.

‘I love history, I just want to be a story teller I think it’s challenging but it’s beautiful and I enjoy it. Fur is history I believe it has made us who we are today like shelter, clothing in the ancient times fur was important. At the same time I like mixing other fabrics I don’t have a particular fabric I like. Its more adventurous when the concept talks to me and tell me what it wants/needs. I believe fashion is art and Art is Freedom to me personally.’

As for my collection I watched a documentary called “Children of Hitler” were he took young kids and made them soldiers. I personally felt like he exposed the aggressive side of an innocent child/person that they didn’t know yet, so I tilted my concept “Exposure Of Malevolent”. To move forward with the idea I found an artist called Ivan Albright who is a magic realist painter and artist, most renowned for his self-portraits, character studies, and still life.  I was caught with his attention to detail and it led me to do my textiles 3D of a face young boy using different colours of fur and embroidery. My aim was to show a face being exposed out of a German military silhouette with a twist. It was fun.’

Emily Lapworth, a BA Fashion Design and Technology Womenswear graduate from the Manchester Metropolitan University who is attempting to define and redefine not only the fun within clothing, but experimentation with something new.

‘As a young explorer, I find myself getting ‘itchy feet’ and wanting to venture further in the world, so for my fur entry I put myself into the shoes of a travelling consumer, inhaling the culture of different countries. Inspiration mainly spans from photographs taken of landscapes, trinkets, fashion and clothing details. I am bringing all these elements together through sampling to create something new and fun.’

‘I believe that experimenting with bold and bright colour ways is central to my design identity, therefore I displayed this fun ora in my designs. As a technology student. sampling for innovative techniques is paramount to my work, so I have incorporated traditional materials used throughout tribes such as safety pins, eyelets, beading and even metal bottle caps, As working with fur was a new road for me I experimented with my favourite textiles such as applique, dip dyeing, and knitting to create a new design.’

‘My final design uses thin long strips of brightly dyed rabbit hide, which are tied together to create a yarn to knit with. The same principle applies to knitting the fur as it does to normal wool. An oversized floor length jumper dress is knitted from both traditional sections of wool and sections of fur knitting to reflect the colours seen in a sunset landscape. A white leather appliqued ‘hamsa hand’ hooded coat sits over the top, incorporating appliqued sections of the knitted fur on the top.’

For more portfolio work please visit – www.emilyroselapworth.com

 

Edda Gimnes, a BA Womenswear graduate from the London College of Fashion who has been featured in The New York Times as one of ten ´Fresh out of Fashion School designers to watch.

‘I enjoy using old objects and things that have gone to waste so for my collection I have been “The Ragpicker” of my own project.  Making my own archive and collecting things from society in London and outside, that has been refused, forgotten and lost.  Such as albums, photographs, old clothes, things on sale, postcards, jewellery pieces etc. In my collection I am bringing these amazing memories back to life and display of their ephemera.’

‘When I started to work with fur I wanted the drawings to be incorporated into the craftsmanship in a fun and innovative way.  Therefore all my illustrations are cut out in black sheer and long haired mink and thereafter inserted into white sheered mink using the fur technique called intarsia to translate my drawings. I have then used the stiff and raw digital printed canvas as a contrast to the beautiful and luxurious fur which gives my garments a unique, playful and fresh combination. ‘

See what Edda is up to now – www.edda-gimnes.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Natalia Eyres successfully graduated from Central Saint Martins and is currently finishing her Furrier placements whilst also working as a successful embroiderer at Couture House Ralph & Russo.

‘I find colour and texture most important to me when considering designs and find inspiration in my collections of kitsch objects from early Elvis records to 1970’s crockery. My collecting of objects has informed a lot of different influences that can be factored into the styles and techniques I use in my designs. I like to look at old family photos for a lot of my inspiration and especially one’s of my mother and aunt as little girls in their garden, sporting quant patterned dresses standing in front of vivid colourful flowers.’