STADIO School of Fashion Designer of the Year 2022
Vote for your favourite Fashion Designer 2022
Hi there, my name is Angelique Smith, and I am a young and conscious fashion designer. I want to say my style is quite different from my peers and the usual "expectation" of how we as designers would dress; I consider myself a Hippie and Bohemian fanatic and always aim to feel and look as comfortable and free as possible. Some people might not notice right away that I am a fashion designer, but this dream has been with me for as long as I can remember. I have always considered nature as my number one inspiration; its colours, textures, and the feeling it brings to your soul astounds me and how beautiful it is. So, I strive to create unique concepts and styles and see fashion how I see nature, where it starts from something so minute and grows into this beautiful creation.
What is the concept behind your range, and why were you drawn to this idea?
I have chosen the trend Rerooted Nature as part of my design creation process, with the sub-trend 'Forest Textures' as a focal point from WGSN (Maggioni, 2021). Rerooted Nature connects us to nature, heritage, craft, and community that guides us to new age living (Maggioni, 2021), which focuses on binding humanity to nature to set a sustainable environment for now and futures to come. The sub- trend 'Forest Textures' implies the inner growths of the forest/woods (Maggioni, 2021), focusing on detail. My initial concept was and still is an approach to 'Soft Psychedelics' consisting of natural dyed prints that represent the forest's internal growths that are somewhat hallucinating to the eye when examined. This concept speaks with the trend of binding humanity with nature to form a lasting relationship. I have taken the sustainable dyeing inspiration from the South African creator Jess Lee Buchanan of the 'Terrama Store' in the Western Cape (Buchanan, 2022), and strived to create similar beautiful natural dyeing patterns to bring forth the forest textures in my concept. With the use of ice dyeing and geode ice dyeing techniques as inspired, these processes create patterns that mimic the growth of moss and fungi common in forests/woods. I was initially drawn to this idea upon encountering Buchanan's artwork and how similar it would represent the textures that I am trying to create while keeping sustainability in mind as I want to venture into a greener fashion lifestyle. I have gone with the range name 'Terradelia' that combines Terra (Latin word for Earth) and Psychedelia (derived from Psychedelic) to form as one.
I, Juanita Soobiah am strongly influenced by my South Asian culture. This influencing is included in my design style. I take delight in incorporating my culture into each design I create, whether it be in the print or working details. The purpose for incorporating my culture into my designs is to educateothers on the beauty that is South Asian culture. I myself struggled, as a teenager, to figure out my personal style. There were numerous subcultures all highly influential. Thedifficulty was embracing my culture in public for ethnic-cultural bullying was a exercised throughout my childhood. The venture into young adulthood gave me the strength and courage I needed to embrace my culture openly as well as proudly. The Indo-Western subculture is my personal style of dress. The subculture entails incorporating a piece of clothing or jewelry from the South Asian culture into your attire.
What is the concept behind your range, and why were you drawn to this idea?
The main concept for the range is to incorporate my heritage as well as the destination of the journey I have taken to be the person I am today. The idea is that of someone whom is South Asian trying to find where they belong and what they identify as their personal style. The South Asian beauty standards as well as cultural expectation is extremely strict and influential. The struggle for identity starts here, for the community around you expects one thing but you find yourself leaning towards another. The range portrays the journey in that it contains elements of the South Asian culture as well as Western and European influence. The combination of both worlds intertwining, with no one being more influential than the other. The equal balance of both worlds working together in harmony to create the perfect blend to suit their personality.
My name is Khanyisile Mhlambi and I see myself as a creative and attentive designer. I like exploring and designing through emotive design. I think clothing plays an important role in how it makes the wearer feel. The way you dress can express the mood you are in or it can change your mood for the better through the colour, design and fit of the garment. Clothing also helps people communicate their identity and that is what I love about designing. I love bringing inclusivity to all my designs.
What is the concept behind your range, and why were you drawn to this idea?
The following Collection I will be presenting is centred around the process of healing. An idea of escapism which is expressed via Nostalgia. Looking at the Re-rooted Nature Trends – Which is ‘an affirmation of the things that connect us; nature, heritage, craft and community and an examination of how they can guide us through a time when we are all being re-routed on to new paths (wgsn).’ This is in connection with how the pandemic has affected most people emotionally and we had to find new ways to adapt and protect our sanity. Fashion often takes a moment to reflect and delve into its own memory box, looking for inspiration on how to adapt to a new era (Montgomery, 2020). The healing process of anything comes with wanting to feel safe, protected and reassured that you will get through the struggles, we often find ways to heal through humans. This collection will showcase how Men and Woman symbolise different aspects of healing. Women are known to Mend and Grow you. Men are known for Security and Protection.
Going into fashion design isn’t something I ever saw myself pursuing when I was younger but being into skateboarding and hip hop, I would naturally be interested in clothes. Fast forward 2019 I realized my passion for fashion and decided to study a BA. In Fashion buying for a year then started my BA in Fashion Design. I have since applied myself by interning in our country’s top 5 fashion retailer, fashion week and started my own brand.
What is the concept behind your range, and why were you drawn to this idea?
My concept explores how advancement in architecture is a reflection of a developed and advanced society. With being at home from lockdown, technology has rapidly evolved and in turn affected our reality. Realities and digital realities have transcended distinction which made home an escape (WSGN, 2022). Looking at how these worlds have enmeshed I then made an ideal environment where tech influences human characteristics to embody a cyborg aesthetic. In some way it’s a fantasy with psychedelic and mystical motif. I also took inspiration from a poem, Kubla Khan, where the narrator takes opium and records his dream when they awake. Recorded was a beautiful palace with strong peculiar and transgressive elements.
I am an enthusiastic and determined young creative. Since I don’t like to speak too much, I prefer to express myself or communicate through designing. I've come to appreciate design since I was very young, I used to construct dress for my sisters using off-cuts or scuff and take pictures with my phone. In dance competitions, Being a Latin American and ballroom championship dancer I would pay more attention to the dance costume rather than the competition itself. In 2018, I was given the opportunity to teach dance for one year in the Seychelles. I began out there with the intention of generating revenue of which it helped with a start up capital for my varsity tuition. I started with higher certificate in design just to test the water, and I did very well, because my garment won the fashion show and I passed with 3 distinctions, and that’s how my career in design started taking shape.
What is the concept behind your range, and why were you drawn to this idea?
The trend "Awestruck," and its subtends "Modern Warrior" and "Low Key Drama," represent a shift away from high end drama toward a more relaxed aesthetic. It helps with "above-the-keyboard look". The goal is to make high-end fashion more wearable in everyday situations (Baidoo, A. 2021). This is intended to produce a nice, appropriate high-low mix, allowing the wearer to get through the day without changing into new clothes (Baidoo, A. 2021). My approach focus on two distinct situations: sustainability and "Femme Fatale”.
Majority of our society believes that it is inappropriate to repeat a tailored garment. The Jay_manks aims to change that mentality by creating high-end garments that can be worn reputedly in deferent occasion.
The Jay_manks’s main idea is to transcend traditional perceptions of femininity and create a version that caters to modern feminists. For decades, society, including men and dominant religious houses, has defined what it means to be a "good woman”.
For instance she must be soft, submissive, not loud, pure, and she must not intimidate a man's ego. The Jay_manks defines the new femininity which prioritizes a sense of liberation. The corset and tulle was traditionally used for bridal undergarments, its purpose was to make the bride appear very petite and curvy, and the Jay_manks used them as decorative features, with the goal of providing a garment with an overall sex appeal.
My third year collection is based off of the sub-trend ‘Re-Rooted Nature’. This trend is all about finding yourself and looking back on culture and heritage. I took inspiration from the trend and looked at my own culture, being Egyptian. I looked at hieroglyphics and masjid structure to create my collection. I created my own hieroglyphic quilt design from the lotus flower, the national egyptian flower commonly found in a lot of hieroglyphics. I took my silhouettes from the shapes and structure of masjids which thus became my collection ‘retrospection introspect’.
As a designer I find my work to be at its most distinguished and successful when I design with an extensively thought-out concept in mind, and for this range, that concept is that of Communal Balance.
Communal is a word that becomes more relevant closer to home, my commune, where I live with six of my best friends and have some of my wildest and most fond memories. A commune requires one thing above all when it comes to operating at a smooth and consistent pace, and that is balance. Where balance really comes into play is when the group living together know each other well enough to recognize strengths and weaknesses, then delegation happens depending on your capabilities and previous communal tasks completed.
Balance through multiple aspects of the clothing. The range is designed around the male figure but is unisex as ladies wear has played a pivotal role in my fashion journey, from bright collared shirts to flared pants. The range has been designed so that all garments in the range can be matched together to create different by still complete looks, this has been achieved through the technique of intelligent colour blocking. Artworks, embroidery and patches make up the details of the garments to create a more artistic and balanced approach to my creations.
The end results were my garments being used as artboards to experiment different drawing and embroidery and to create an entertaining and creatively freeing experience.
Ultimately the inspiration for the collection is all about bridging a gap between workwear and home wear and casual wear. This in the collection is archived by making comfort the key action point of the collection. The main reason for making comfort the key action point is drawn from the action point of the main trend which is Deconstruct/Reconstruct. This particular subtend in the collection is being used as silhouettes inspirations for the collection looks. This particular sub trend is all about designing key tailoring looks in a manner that will make them relevant for this day and age in terms
of comfortability and this is archived by making reference to architectural design approach in order to accomplish the super comfortable and not so fitted silhouettes and shapes (WGSN, 2022).
TECH TERROR is based on a current wgsn trend “Awestruck” which Baidoo, Maggioni (2022) state that Awestruck is a trend that heavily influenced by the confluence of the “physical and digital worlds”. Designers are revamping tech giving it human instincts, we see warmth and emotion as we see a bit of personal identity in this trend, we see this trend being driven by Cyborg aesthetics & Surrealist stylings that break down gender barriers and merges both gender ideals to create a new outcome (Baidoo, Maggioni, 2021). Bold opulent colours and luxurious materials are used to further emphasise the cyberpunk experience we see in the metaverse and gaming experience.
The range was inspired by Supercharged Simplicity, which is a WGSN trend that is intentional about its approach to create clothing that is intertwined and fluid in our individual lifestyles (Paget 2021). The three main sub trends that I narrowed the trend down to are offline wear, work leisure and lux lounge (Paget 2021). These sub trends are focused on the concepts of fashion that is comfortable, luxurious, relaxing focusing on a style of tailoring that is relaxed and laid back, and versatile in such a way that clothing can be worn from the workplace or at home, to social environments Supercharged Simplicity also embraces sustainability focusing on the use of few fabrics and a focused colour palette all bringing us into the concept and idea of smart clothing (2021).
Fashion plays an important role in expressing how we feel but sometimes it can be misleading,
It is challenging to see how people are depressed especially when they always look good.
Because people always assume that you have everything figured out. We recently lost a very prominent figure rapper, song writer , fashion icon, businessman and father Ricky rick.
Everyone did not notice that he was suicidal until the last day.
This collection will also create awareness through quotes, keywords and metaphors embroidered and printed on the garments.
Awestruck is a trend that celebrates creativity that blurs lines between the physical and virtual, the historic and futuristic, and designs with an escapist edge as our physical and digital realities become more intertwined. (Baidoo & Maggiono, 2021). In this concept physical and digital identities are becoming one, and this is what inspired my design strategy for my graduate collection range Meta Identity which tries to show how taking completely different worlds and merging them into one will then visually look like as a range.