WeAreHQ has been watching new talent!
A new fashion designer has caught our attention for her entertaining tweets, creative intelligence and an abundance of hard work leading up to Graduate Fashion Week 2010! We thought it was about time to meet up with Emma and have a chat!
Who is Emma Box?:
Emma Box is a Graduate designer from UCA Rochester and has been studying fashion full time since she was 16. Growing up in a small village in Leicestershire gave her the determination to branch out and experience more than her hometown could ever offer her.
Emma’s clothes have graced the catwalks of Graduate Fashion Week, been seen on Rachel Stevens and are soon to be flown overseas to be shown at Vienna Fashion Week! EMMABOX will soon be available to buy from various stockists and in the next few months she hopes to be working for another designer to gain the experience and knowledge to build her own brand that she can eventually dedicate all her time to in a studio with her favourite animal… a parrot!
Lets start off with the success of your current graduate collection. I hear you have been busy flying off to Vienna for their fashion week! Tell me how that is all going for you?
I’ve had an amazing time since completing my graduate collection! After my show at Graduate Fashion Week I was whisked over to Vienna’s Quartier21 to participate in an exhibition called ‘Fish and chips, twice please?!’. It has been a huge success and has had about 25,000 visitors so far. The exhibition was set up to show London as a creative hub introducing Vienna to its young, emerging designers including Emma Bell, Nicholas Kirkwood, Charlie Le Mindu, Louise Gray and many more. I took part in the new designer showcase exhibiting a few outfits from my graduate collection where they remained for a month while I completed a residency in the studios there. One thing always seems to lead onto another and next on the agenda is to show at Vienna Fashion Week! I feel very lucky to have had these opportunities straight out of university!
All fashion images by Alexander Jordan…
Talk us through some of the ideas behind this gorgeous collection. Where was the inspiration for the prints and shapes?
I was inspired by the work of an artist called Tillman Kaiser after he did an exhibition at the Wilkinson gallery called hallucination engine. He makes mixed media paintings and all these amazing 3 dimensional sculptures out of card so I used the same technique to create parts of my garments. I took the idea of hallucination for my print capturing photos of moving lights on a slow exposure and editing them in Photoshop to create a kaleidoscopic print. I then built on top of the images by making a pattern out of flies’ wings that are often found in Kaisers paintings.
What do you feel has worked well for you with this collection?
I wanted to be experimental with parts of it while still keeping an element of wearability and commerce, which is a really important factor to me. I feel it has a good balance of the two.
Who would you love to see wearing your garments?
Probably Rhianna actually, she’s hot and experimenting with her style a lot recently and obviously Gaga (love her or hate her) is always a good bit of exposure!
Cast you mind back to you years of studying, what made you want to be a fashion designer?
I guess it was just a natural progression I was always more creative and as I got older and gained more of an understanding of the industry it was all I wanted to do. I wasn’t interested in anything else. I went to a really great college before university, which gave me a strong grounding to develop upon; once I got into it I was hooked!
I remember reading some of your tweets (www.twitter.com/EMMABOX) at early hours of the morning, fighting the time before our deadlines! Although you had masses of work to do, what kept you sane and driven?
The end result is what keeps me driven; you get out what you put in so if you work hard enough it will pay off. When I get to see my designs finally come to life it gives me a kind of rush its so satisfying. Although at times it is very stressful and draining its what makes me most happy, so I guess the work in itself is what keeps me sane, I just love it!
Below, Emma’s Illustrations of her collection along with toiles out of paper to achieve the shapes she wants.
What elements of your fashion degree did you find most difficult?
I would have to say money was probably the most difficult part. I was very lucky to have help from my parents when I needed it. The materials cost a lot of money especially when you are using print and leather! You spend more and more everyday on little things as well though, threads, calico, needles after you’ve broken a whole pack! It all mounts up and can get very stressful, its frustrating when you have to hold back on things just because money wont allow you to do it!
Have you had to make sacrifices in order to follow you dream? If so, what were they?
Ermmm…My health! Missing out on sleep, forgetting to eat properly and being stressed definitely takes its toll on your body after a while! Haha that sounds a little dramatic, but you do get very run down at times! I guess you have to sacrifice your social life and relationships a little, I didn’t go home for over six months while making my collection and would rarely go out like I did before and I would probably only get to see my boyfriend once a week for an evening and near to the end of the collection we’d often both be sitting there working!
From your experience, would you give any advise to fashion students?
There is so much competition out there so you have to be the best that you can be, the more time you put into it the more you can develop and produce. There are going to be shit days, your going to get stressed and your going to get tired, but if you are genuinely serious about it then the passion and love for your work will get you through and the end result will make it all worth it.
I have also loved keeping up to date with your posts and I have noticed you are developing quite a following! Have you had anyone contact you via your blog for work?
The internet is such a powerful platform for young designers to promote themselves and network with other creative’s and industry people. Together with my blog, website, and other networking sites I have been contacted for various things, sample requests from stylists, boutiques and websites interested in selling my clothes and offers for various shows etc.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
In ten years time I would love to be selling on a wide enough scale to actually make a living! I hope to have learnt a lot more, developed my craft and my brand and to eventually have a small team of fun, talented people working with me in my own studio…with a parrot to keep us entertained! Im sure that will take longer than ten years but that’s my ultimate dream!
Where can we find you to keep track of your next fashion moves?
Gosh where to start!? www.emmabox.com, emmaboxfashiondesigner.blogspot.com, www.twitter.com/emmabox, http://www.facebook.com/pages/EMMABOX I think between all of those sites there be plenty of info on my latest goings on!
Is there any one that’s helped you through your success that you want to give a little shout out too?
Yes Emma Bell (http://www.emma-bell.com/) and Polona Dolzan the ladies behind the exhibition in Vienna. My boyfriend and trusty photographer Alexander Jordan (http://www.alexanderjordan.co.uk/) for all my photography needs! He’s done an amazing job on all my shoots and I definitely suggest people take a look at his site, and of course my parents for all their help, my mum is great hand sewer!
Thank you very much Emma and good luck with the future!
YouAre Commenting...