Vivienne Westwood- Fashion Designer

With the hippy and free love movements being prevalent without the 1960s in London, and the fashion being heavily influenced by said movement it would be fair to assume that most designers were also influenced by this. However Westwood’s main influence was the greaser leather heavy fashions of the 50’s and the punk anti-fascist movements of the 70’s. She was greatly inspired by the anti capitalist and rebel attitude of the Sex Pistols, especially after the “God save the Queen” EP was censored by the BBC. This is a turning point in her fashion when she incorporated the main basis of the punk aesthetic such as leather, typography, denim and plaid fabrics. Her provoking fashion often included anti- Nazi and Skinhead type and and anti patriarchy messages. These messages were not well received by the mainstream of London yet there was a charm to her rebellious attitude towards the fashion world.

she is still designing yet she has diversified to a more mainstream empire. She dropped the rebellious fashions after the punk movement lost its momentum yet she is still a large part of the history of rebellion in London. I find her fashions to be beautiful in a harsh and rugged type of way. I have been a fan of both the anti fascist fashions along with the extreme opposites such as skinhead for a very long time so her fashion presence in this period has always caught my attention more so than any other. When planning my denim challenge I knew that I would want to use her as a large influence on my own attempts to create some fashion of my own.

Jennifer Davies- Textile Artist

Davies is particularly interested in  working with paper and other types of textiles, all of which she makes herself. Her main influences are naturality and the world of nature, particularly tree barks, the veins of plants and leaves and the chaotic overlap of nature that is often overlooked or missed. She particularly enjoys making her own paper out of pulp and playing around with diverse thicknesses and textures in order to create a realistic recreation of texture. when I saw her work I was fascinated by the overlap of fabric and the denim heavy look. This greatly inspired me for the denim challenge as I was thinking about using this sort of patchwork and asymmetric look for a jacket or some sort of garment. I love the idea of making my own garment with this sort of style with the different types of denim and contrasting colours. The webbing look that she achieves with dissolving denim is supposed to mimic spider webs, however it reminds me of torn up tights or fishnet stocking, this is something else that I considered for my denim challenge as I thought it would tie in with the works of both Davies and Westwood.

Shanan Campanaro- Textile Designer

Eskayel is a New York based design studio that interlocks fine art and sustainable methods of creating unique and ling lasting textiles. The patterns come from a painting process initially, completed by the founder of the company Campanaro. She likes to create textiles with lasting beauty and sustainability in mind, she also enjoys evoking a sense of preservation of nature’s wonders within her somewhat abstract designs. It is easy to see that she is passionate about the theme of her work as she also conducts her process in an eco-friendly manner with natural pigments, inks and dyes for both her initial sketches and the textiles themselves. Her brand of homeware, linens, wallpapers and other home accessories have been produced over and over due to the quality and unique approach to her designs.

Eskayel is a designer that inspires me due to the sheer devotion to the eco-friendly approach to her business that had made her stand out from the rest. Her devotion to wildlife not only stays within the realm of creating her works but she also donates much of her earnings to organisations and reserves who believe in the preservation of wildlife also. Her sheer commitment to her cause is what I really enjoy about her work and how each piece is created from something that she finds beautiful and unique. Her success is no surprise to me due to her passion that is poured into every piece.