"My proudest work to date has been through my love for fashion photography and graphics, with the creation of putting a publication together."
“I have always been very creative from a young age and never got on with subjects such as maths and science. When I was in nursery I bought a doll to school that had a beautiful dress on and one of the teachers painted half and I the other, I always kept it at home as something fond to look back on. Showing how even from a young age I was thinking about fashion. At age 11, I made a portfolio of images that I would find in magazines and cut them out, stick them in and make my own designs next to them. When I went to secondary school I was really devoted to art and would stay late to go to ‘art catchup’ and ‘twilight’ lessons that finished at 4pm but I would stay until 6pm because I loved creating and being around artistic people who inspired me.
At A level I took photography and graphics and for one of my final pieces I made a graphic for a t-shirt, tote bag and hoodie which I absolutely loved. I did embroidery additionally, even though it was meant to be 2D work, as I was picking up fashion influences and looking at brands like Off-White and Palace to help inform me about streetwear and my own design decisions. At A level I was looking at fashion and brands that would influence me without realising it. One of my other final pieces, on the project ‘Being true to yourself’, was a small ‘zine’ of my two friends who I interviewed and took photos of in their normal clothes to make a fashion magazine in a commercial style that I loved and got a high grade for, so I was very proud.”
“At Art Foundation I fell into fashion as in my head I knew this is what I should be doing. For my summer project I did not have much to go off so I started researching designers and how they communicate ideas through their clothing and what stories they portray. I looked at Maison Margiela, Alexander McQueen and Comme Des Garcons.
All these big brands inspired my work and without even realising I had created an idea for a fine art neck piece that followed the ideas of the designers that I loved, which I then used for my Kingston interview. It was something I did naturally that worked really well. When I was in foundation I studied fashion communication and looking at fashion through magazines, fashion photography, PR and even dressing mannequins for shop displays.
I was more interested in fashion photography as I had done it at GCSE and A level and I was always offering to do my friends’ photography for their final outcomes. I also love graphic design and made a ‘zine’ for my final major project (FMP) that looked at ‘The body in Fashion’ which is my proudest work to date as it has my love for fashion photography and graphics, with the creation of putting a publication together.”
“When I visited Kingston I felt so comfortable straight away and knew it was such a warm, welcoming and very creative environment. Everyone was so lovely and even when I had my interview I was shown around and they said “see you in September” so it was lovely from them to have that reassurance in the type of place I was coming to. Then, when I was packing for university I found the portfolio that I made, as I was looking through I remember thinking, this is 100 percent the right thing for me to be doing, not only for me now, but also for my younger self too.”
