Up next on the Class of 2016 series is BA (Hons) Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear student Hyone Chi and BA (Hons) Fashion Contour student Flora Murray, who are collaborating for the LCFBA16 Catwalk that takes place today, June 6. They told us about their passion for experimentation and what they like most about their courses.
You can watch the live stream show today at 7pm GMT.
Hyone Chi (BA Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear), Flora Murray (BA Fashion Contour). Photographer: James Rees, Creative Direction: Rob Phillips, Hair: Ezana Ové, Beauty: Kirsty Gaston
Where are you from?
Flora: Edinburgh, Scotland
Hyone: I am from Seoul, South Korea
Give us one interesting fact about yourself…
Flora: I made pieces for Ariana Grande’s American Tour during my time working with Chromat.
Hyone: I previously studied natural science before I started fashion.
Talk us through your final project
Flora: My project is a range of structural sport luxe lingerie
Hyone: My project started with the idea of materiality and is particularly inspired by 2 phrases ‘seeing a thing as it is’ and ‘All existence is interdependent and existence itself is void’ which are based on the philosophy of Buddhism. My collection has developed through the process of redefining the balanced silhouette by playing with the weight of fabric and using simple geometrical lines for pattern cutting.
Hyone Chi (BA Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear), Flora Murray (BA Fashion Contour). Photographer: James Rees, Creative Direction: Rob Phillips, Hair: Ezana Ové, Beauty: Kirsty Gaston
What do you love about what you do?
Flora: I love creating my ideas and the development process.
Hyone: Experimenting with silhouettes and the details of a piece of fabric. It can be quite abstract in the early stages but that’s great because I can explore lots of ideas and then they successfully become garments at the end.
What is the story behind your final piece of work?
Flora: I wanted to create a structural range playing with different transparent and textures fabrics
Hyone: I used bonding to change the weight of fabric, and I spent a lot of time on it. I didn’t expect it to take so long, because it was my first time bonding but at the end I was happy with the result of the silhouette because it’s beautifully structured.
What techniques or theories did you use to create your final piece of work?
Flora: I worked by mainly drafting my patterns from the body.
Hyone: I used minimal fabrics and colours, so the focus was on the characteristics of the design. I only used black so people could really see and feel the silhouette and details of garments as they are. Also I focused on only a few fabrics, but changed the weight. How it formed differently was the most important part in my collection.
What’s the best thing about LCF?
Flora: The wide range of specialised courses
Hyone: Having lots of different fashion related courses.
Design by Flora Murray (BA Fashion Contour)
What’s the best thing about your courses?
Flora: We have a small course and everyone works really well as a team
Hyone: It is intense, but that makes students want to learn and improve their skills a lot. Also the tutors really care about the technical elements to how garments are beautifully made which is actually very important, if you do design, but it is easy to miss as a student.
Have you undertaken any work experience or done a placement whilst at LCF? Where and how did you secure this work experience or placement?
Flora: I was a design and production intern at Chromat in New York, I applied for the role by emailing their team.
Hyone: I worked at Marques’ Almeida. I emailed them directly and got an interview. I had such an amazing time and learnt lots of things from such nice people. They gave me a variety of experience whilst I worked as an intern and I even got to take part in the preparations of their AW15 collection. Also, I created some visual image work with other interns for the M’A SS15 campaign, and Marta and Paulo decided to present our work exclusively on SHOWstudio.
What did you learn on your work experience/placement?
Flora: I got a really strong insight into how their team worked and their design process.
Hyone: I learnt how a fashion company runs and I learnt how to balance working with studying so it was valuable experience all-round. They know how to create an enjoyable work environment, and I think it is really important.
Design by Hyone Chi, BA Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear
Describe your work in five words…
Flora: Structured, bold, sport, Luxe, transparent
Hyone: Structure, modernity, minimal, normcore, gentle power
Do you have a muse? If so, who and why?
Hyone: I don’t really have a muse, but my collection is for those people who are cool and gentle, but also powerful and defiant at the same time.
What inspires you?
Flora: I find modern architecture inspiring for design lines
Hyone: I am actually inspired by random stuff everywhere, in many different areas. Mainly the things that visually attract me are photography, films, music, culture, and art but I still have an interest in science and technology.
Design by Hyone Chi, BA Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear
Where do you want to be in your career in five years’ time?
Flora: I would love to be working as a design assistant for a small designer lingerie brand, creating new and exciting lingerie.
Hyone: I would like to get more work experience as a designer to develop professionally, but it would also be great if I could continue to develop my own design identity and aesthetic. I have so many goals.
How do you think your course and LCF will help you achieve your plans?
Flora: The course has helped us to gain all of the training that we need for the industry
Hyone: LCF always tries to support students as much as they can. The connection they have with alumni is great and I think that will help me.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to study your course?
Hyone: I think it’s really important that you know yourself, what you like and what you are good at. It’s going be a big problem if you choose womenswear just because you like fashion and clothes. I think designing clothes is a bit of a different matter. So you should think carefully about what you really want to do. If you choose it, be ready to overcome tons of challenges, it’s an amazing feeling when you do.
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