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Graduate Spotlight: MA Fashion Design Technology Womenswear Lauren Lake

Written by
Josh De Souza Crook Published date
18 February 2016

Meet MA Fashion Design Technology Womenswear Graduate Spotlight designer Lauren Lake who will be presenting her whole collection tonight at the LCFMA16 Womenswear Catwalk. The show will be live streamed at 7pm GMT. Make sure to tune in.

Roma Gypsies were the main source of inspiration for her ‘Some Girls Aren’t Meant to Be Tamed’ collection, find out why she wanted to study a postgraduate and what were the most interesting and challenging parts of the course.

MA Fashion Design Technology designer Lauren Lake will be presenting her collection live tonight for LCFMA16 Womenswear Catwalk live stream.

Where did you prior to your MA at LCF?

I studied BA Fashion at Kingston.

Why did you choose LCF and MA Fashion Design Technology Womenswear?

I wanted to study an MA because I wanted to develop my skills, my pathways and my own brand. I wanted to shape myself as a designer and learn the skills you need to create a collection. Studying a BA is very different, it’s more about having fun, while with an MA it’s more about finding yourself. I fell into London College of Fashion, Nigel, the course leader, approached me at Graduate Fashion Week about studying here. After I finished my BA, I got a job straight away at River Island – my parents and I agreed I needed to save some money before studying an MA. I never really thought about anything else, then the Dean of LCF offered me a full scholarship to study so I left River Island and came here. I always wanted to study a postgraduate but I couldn’t afford to live in London after my BA so it was lucky that I got the scholarship.

Tell us about your final collection?

My final collection is called ‘Some Girls Aren’t Meant to Be Tamed’. The inspiration came from traditional Roma Gypsies, it’s based on their rawness and their fun edge, mixed with a modern-day women. I mixed it with traditional Inuit dress and women of that culture. I wanted to create a group of girls that represent a ‘new woman’, a type of woman that’s powerful and strong, that cares about other people but also does her own thing. I wanted to create a collection that represents young modern women that want to make a statement, not just through colour but also with the boldness of the print and the cut of the clothes. The collection is feminine and powerful.

Reflecting back on your MA, and thinking of any prospective students thinking about starting an MA, what would be your top three tips/bits of advice would you give to them?

I think you need to stay positive, creative criticism is a good thing. You should also really enjoy it, every bit of the course and gain everything you can from the MA.

What have you found the most enjoyable and interesting parts of the course? And what have you found the most challenging?

The team that you work with at LCF are really skilled and passionate about developing you as a designer. Nigel and the team are so passionate and they see your vision, which helps carry you along. This then helps you as a designer to develop a better vision for your designs. The team here are incredible, they’ve all come from very prestigious places and have unbelievable skills. If you show someone here a design they’ll help you create a better version. For example if I showed Camilla (Pattern Cutter) a drawing she would be able to offer a way to fully realise it. Nigel constantly pushes you to be the best that you can be. There’s a lot of constructive criticism along the way, but that help and advice eventually helps shape you and your collection.

The most challenging part of the course has been deadlines for me, and most designers too. If you saw me an hour before the show, you’d see me on the floor banging poppers into the garments. I find the whole finishing and the actual making process can be quite challenging. Sourcing materials and balancing my masters with a part-time job has also been challenging.

What’s been your favourite thing about studying in London?

The whole atmosphere of London is my favourite thing. I live in East London, I spent most of my time there or around South-East London, both those areas are full of talent and creativity. It’s the heart of the creative industry, you just get chatting to someone and it turns out their a graphic designer or an artist, you always feel like your surrounded by like-minded people. In London people just don’t care about your appearance, it’s a really fun atmosphere to be in, you can be yourself and it doesn’t what you look like or what you do. It doesn’t matter where you come from, everyone just seems to bond together and it’s great to feel like that.

Have you won any prizes?

I was awarded the full scholarship to study on the MA after being approached at Graduate Fashion Week.

Have you been in the media?

I have been profiled in British Vogue, Vice, The Guardian and Dazed as well as the front cover of The Times in June 2014.

Describe your style in five words…

Bold, colourful, tactile, fun and feminine.

Do you have a muse? If so, who and why?

I don’t have just one muse, it’s more like a tribe of women. My muses are the group of women that would wear my clothes, powerful and confident women in their early 20s going up all the way to their 40s who are fun and confident. A group of women who are powerful in themselves and willing to take a risk in clothing!

What are your future plans and do you think the course helped you realise these plans?

After the show in February, I’m going to try and apply for Fashion East, New Gen, funding and see if I can get on some PR books. I’ve started to look into some of these already, but in London’s there’s always a pressure of being a designer. That’s where I’m at the moment, it can be really hard and a struggle for designers in London. I’m going to apply for jobs too, this MA has made me realise as a designer where I want to sit in the bracket of fashion. I’m going to look into jobs in Italy, perhaps even styling. It’s all very much in the mix at the moment, I’m going to see what happens.

Graduate Spotlight: MA Fashion Design Technology Womenswear Lauren Lake

London College of Fashion

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