About Me
Hi I'm Sophie, a graduate from Birmingham City University
As my university experience draws to an end, it is exciting to look back on how I have developed as a creative. My final year projects have allowed me to explore myself as a designer and realise my potential. My work demonstrates how I can dissect any challenge and succeed by delivering the required outcome.
My interest in the fashion industry stems from a young age, my designs became reality when I got my first sewing machine at sixteen. What drew me to the world of fashion was how it can simply define someone depending on what they wear and how they wear it. It allows you to be an individual which I firmly believe is the best version of ourselves we can be. My skills include pattern cutting, sampling, CAD drawings and print design. I specialise in Womenswear and I am not afraid to play around with colour, whatever the season!
INSPIRATION
My initial ideas sparked from stories and fictional worlds that the reader can get lost in.
My project in collaboration with Superdry was inspired by a book that I read during the first lockdown which allowed me to escape the harsh realities of the global pandemic and create something new and exciting from sample garments. Upcycling was not something I had previously considered, so I was sceptical about the process. I was surprised at how much freedom came with such a small range of garments where for the final line-up I combined soft tailoring with my love for loud prints and leisurewear.
The idea for my final collection came from my love for the story of Alice in Wonderland. I began to learn more about the author, Lewis Carroll’s life and the meaning behind the stories and poems he wrote. The deterioration of his health during his later life led me to look into the idea of hallucinations and dreams. My work delves into the wild imagination of Lewis Carroll to produce a final line-up of dreamy formal attire with a heavy focus on print and bold colours.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
Introduction to the concept, Lennon Towers
Concept research
Concept research
Initial design development from stand work
Final line-up
Breakdown one
Breakdown two
Final outcome
Introduction to the concept, A World of Nonsense
Concept research
Concept research
Initial design development from collaging
Initial design development from collaging
Final line-up
Breakdown one
Breakdown two
Final outcome
DETAIL
I loved experimenting with print design for my final collection.
It wasn’t until my second year of university that I really started to realise how much I enjoyed creating prints. I love the way a vibrant print can bring such a simple silhouette to life. As my concept started to come together, I knew I wanted to play around with the simplicity of flowers and butterflies and other elements that appear in the colourful 1951 film of ‘Alice in Wonderland’. I knew it was important that my prints communicated the idea of hallucinations and dreams, so this led me to applying distortion to my work in order to produce this weird and wonderful outcome. My colour palette emerged from a range of colours that appeared throughout my concept research, these colours really enhanced the prints so that they stood out against the simplistic silhouettes.
I love creating concepts that provide some form of escapism and capture the consumer’s imagination.
Graduate Fashion Week in partnership with:
