Have any unexpected doors opened since your
show?
Strangely, yes. But nothing has materialized yet
except that I will be making Natalie Imbruglia a
pair of kneepads, and AE Magazine from Paris is
shooting my work this month.
What do you think St Martins gave you that no
other course could have?
A sense of humour.
Who in the fashion world do you aspire to be
like and why?
Joan of Arc. She started androgyny amongst
other very important things.
You’re from Miami. How does the London
fashion scene compare?
Yes I am from Miami...home of the hobo/crack
chic neo-punk art rat. There is not really a fashion
scene in Miami, at least not anything demure
of high standard or that is unconventional. The
women who know who Gaultier and Prada are
only wear their sunglasses and perfume. You
would never see anyone walking around in a
bespoke tailored Viv suit. Times are changing and
Art Basel seems to bring a lot of interest, diversity
and much needed culture to Miami, but once a
year is not enough. Then there is London where
there is maybe a little too much glamour and a
little too much “fashion”. Trends here come and
go so quickly that it’s hard to make a stand or
have an individual ideaÖunless of course you are
the real thing and the original idea, which I suppose
is all that matters.
You describe yourself as a fabric manipulator
- what does this mean to you?
Fabric manipulation is sort of like a saying. We
live in an era when everything has been done
and re-hashed and turned upside down, spray
painted and regurgitated once again. I feel no
one is designing anything as much as they are
stylizing or exaggerating previous periods. They
are just manipulating things that already exist.
This is of course with the exception of a few
superhumans.
I love your illustrations and collages. Is illustration,
or any other medium, something you
would have liked to explore out of a fashion
context?
I do a lot of drawing outside of fashion work, and
it was a battle during my education because my
work was too fine art and concept-based and not
fashion enough. When I was given a place on my
degree, I was told I could have gotten into fine
art with my portfolio and they were unsure why I
was trying out for fashion.
There was a lot of interest in the shoes you
designed for your degree show. Do you see
accessory design as a possible path for you?
I seem to be getting pushed in that direction
against my will, first with the knee pads, the
huge interest in the shoes, and now I am currently
in the process of making Charlie le Mindu
two hand bags for this fashion week’s hair
collection. It’s almost like no one wants me to
design clothes. Who knew?
[Turn the page to see Gabriella’s work]
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