London Fashion Week September 2019 has drawn to a close after the most creative and innovative fashion week to date. Opening on Friday 13 September, LFW saw a combination of catwalks, presentations and digital exhibitions, many with an environmental and sustainable focus.
London Fashion Week remains a vital platform for LCF alumni and graduates among other emerging designers to showcase their work to the industry. We spoke to BA (Hons) Fashion Pattern Cutting alumna Priya Jangda, founder of Quillattire.
What message are you trying to send with your collection?
The collection is called 'Freestyle', literally because I only had 2 week's notice to make it! I had no mood board but I knew I wanted to get a message across to the world which was our planet is suffering and together can help it. I started visiting charity shops and buying sportswear, it just struck me as my brand is genderless and sports is a sign of strength so why not combine these all together for a womenswear show? Silhouettes that were masculine but for strong women! The collection contained hand painted protest slogans such as 'Together we can make a change', The world won't change it self' and transcripts from all over the world such as Hindi, Japanese, Chinese & English to communicate we are all one and can make changes if we work together.
Quillattire is all about helping and encouraging unity - everyone is equal and we all aligned can make such an impact to our world! I have spoken to many friends and taken part in discussions and its fascinating that most people are not aware of the global impact fast fashion is having on our planet and species, it's not their fault but the people in the industry's job I feel to try an educate. People think fast fashion is okay as its cheap and makes them look good but the facts are not being promoted by these brands.
My mission to create this collection in 2 weeks and get it onto the runway in front of eyes was to showcase that reusing is cool - and look at what you can create!
How did the opportunity come about?
I started my business with the support of The Princes Trust, my mentor sent me the opportunity which was to initially work back stage at Fashion Futures but I was really keen to showcase my brand. I gave my all to the meetings and with luck I was asked to take part in the show - how amazing? It just shows if you believe in yourself and are determined the world makes it happen! The only thing that got me nervous was the 2 week's notice, I worked everyday until the early mornings and tried putting together an eclectic collection that appealed to all cultures and communicate we are all one - and I did it!
How did you find the experience of exhibiting during LFW? Did everything go to plan?
The experience was amazing, i was a little nervous as the other designers had more notice than me and they had designed such amazing collections from product such as old tyres..and there I was with old charity and vintage clothes trying to up-cycle. I ran with the collection and was so shocked by the overall feedback - everyone loved it, they were clapping and there was such a big applause - I was truly amazed and so relieved! Part of me could not believe I had pulled off this collection in such a short space of time & to get this reaction. The collection was really colourful and I used some happy music for the models to walk down to by Lethal Bizzle & AJ Tracey which added to the mood!
Everything did go to plan and so much more. Whilst designing the collection I was freestyling (hence the name of the collection being called 'Freestyle') everything and so unsure of what this would turn into but I am so lucky it went down so well!
So guys, it is possible to make a collection in a short space of time if ever given an amazing opportunity like this one - just believe in yourself and work hard because nobody else will do it for you and you are in charge of your destiny!
Did you meet any recognisable faces or make any good connections?
I met some amazing woman who owned their own start up brands who were all so enthusiastic towards sustainability. Everyone had the same mind frame which was to make a change through our product and helping educate the world that they can also adopt sustainable practice. The whole team was amazing and I got to meet some good people from press & so many messages from people who were in the audience reposting my collection it was very exciting and out of this world! The energy was great and truly inspiring to keep going, as working for yourself on a brand you have created is not always as glamorous as it looks like the amount of hard work that goes on behind the scenes is insane and meeting like minded people has inspired me even further.
