About Me
Hi, I'm Matilda, I am a Sportswear Graduate from Falmouth University
I have an immense ingrained love for creativity and sport. The Sea is a huge creative inspiration/driving force in my life. It took me a while to find the sport that allowed me to express my creativity as well as my athleticism. I finally found surfing. Surfing developed into a true passion for beach lifeguarding with the RNLI.
My ethos has always been designing for longevity and designing to reduce the need to consume. Everything I design I hope to be timeless in aesthetic, function and durability. I’ve been inspired by the heritage of workwear.
INSPIRATION
RESCUE READY
After working a third season as a beach lifeguard on one of Cornwall's busiest beaches during the Covid-19 pandemic, even on the coldest wettest days, the beach was still filled with people, it was busier than ever before. The RNLI stated that September 2020 saw a 100% increase of beach users compared to 2019. This was due to 'staycations'. This posed a question, would there need to be a winter lifeguard service to watch over this newly increased number on the beach, if so what would the kit be like?
The RNLI state that 95% of a lifeguards job is preventative, with 5% being rescues and first aids. Therefore I choose to design a winter lifeguard kit that would help improve function in day to day beach lifeguarding, with the addition that the kit needs to help improve rescue readiness and rescue times, functions that will be even more crucial in winter when the environment is at its harshest.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
'Rescue Ready' Line up
Current winter layers time trial
'All in one all weather suit' concept
'All in one all wether suit' toile development
Helly Hansen hood analysis
Heritage lifeguards.Photographers Unknown.Pintrest
'All in one all weather suit' Final Make
Current kit box
Beach access. Photographers Unknown. Google
Toile no.1 of the '70L kit bag cad'
Toile no.3 development of the '70L kit bag'
Final cad of The '70L Kit bag'
Final make of the '70L kit bag'
Interchangeable wetsuit neck concept
Changes to original deisgn
Toile development of the Wetsuit
Digitalisation of neoprene and wetsuit pattern
Final make of wetsuit in Clo 3D
Close up of finishings
DETAIL
Sustainability
All design decisions were made with durability/longevity in mind and reducing the need to consume. The Rescue Ready collection is designed to be gender neutral, other than the wetsuit, to reduce manufacture costs and create equilibrium in the work place. Its aim to last the lifeguards career, which can vary from a few years to double figures. The intention that the kit is easily repairable by the lifeguard, to further emotional attachment and performance reassurance, in addition to extending its lifespan. Once the kit has faded from red to pink due sun and salt bleaching, it is no longer red enough to be worn by a lifeguard on duty. Therefore, it shall be de-branded and repurposed into a similar extreme environment such as the mountains. The ‘All in one, all-weather suit’ has be designed that all ‘additional features’ are removable without trace of the garments original use.
My ethos has always been designing for longevity and designing to reduce the need to consume. Everything I design I hope to be timeless in aesthetic, function and durability.
Graduate Fashion Week in partnership with:
