Paris Fashion Week 2020

Experience of a life time

The ‘Battle dress’

Silk Velvet & chainmaille

When you receive a completely unsolicited email asking if you would like to prepare and show a collection at Paris Fashion Week it's hard to know what to do! My first reaction, like most small indie brands, might be, was to think I was being pranked, Me, in Paris, yeah right! But when you google the studio putting the show together and see their history in producing fashion shows the situation before I begin to seem legitimate... scary and weird, but definitely real!

There are times when I still struggle with the realisation that someone had seen my work and had rated it enough to send that initial email! Don't get me wrong I like what I do, I have friends who like what I do but I never thought it was worthy of being seen on a world stage, but then that’s probably exactly how the majority of 'makers' feel. So long story short after another week or so of second-guessing and self-doubt... I found a way to short circuit my brain and I said... YES!

What did this mean? I had 6 months to put together a small winter collection comprising 6 outfits. Where to start? As always for me, it starts with shape and colour. I always start with a general Pinterest search, adding to an 'Inspiration board' as I come across things that catch my attention. It starts that simply... here's the initial inspiration board

The collection of images on the Pinterest board (linked above) takes a few weeks. I go back to it every few days and add, edit, change as ideas start to form. From this point it becomes about sketching out the vague ideas floating about in my head, now let’s be clear I'm not that great at fashion sketches but they are enough to help me consolidate my ideas and from there work out how best to drape or draft each pattern.

Next week we’ll explore the next step in my Paris 2020 journey… How did I take a collection of images and inspiration, some pretty ordinary flat drawings and turn them into what hit the runway in March of 2020!

Here’s a little sneak peek

My ‘wattle’ fabric was my proudest achievement, it was the first time I had designed my own print and I absolutely fell in love with it!