About Me
Hi! I’m Alex, a Fashion Design graduate from Nottingham Trent
Storytelling through layering an extensive range of symbolisms and references have become my focus of experimentation and refinement throughout my design journey. My desire is to create garments with unique details and strong silhouettes, that together weave engaging narratives that offer authentic depth in my designs.
This motivated my pursuit of skills in both traditional techniques and modern technology. The marriage of which can often uncover new avenues for self-expression and push boundaries of fashion. Draping techniques played a particularly important role within my pattern cutting and material manipulation throughout the development of my collection. This built my understanding of how to work with materials in ways that harmonise with the qualities of chosen fabrics. This enabled me to then juxtapose with newer practices or unconventional details, creating beautiful but stimulating garments.
INSPIRATION
My final collection is rooted in the impermanence paradox: “The only constant is change”.
The collection “Tokens of the Ephemeral”, explores the transient nature of existence. Using this collection, I seek out the evanescent beauty of the human experience through designs that encapsulate symbolism of change associated with teeth. Through the idea that losing your baby teeth and developing permanent teeth is the very first interaction with your adult self, I found an intersection of childhood and adulthood that provided an avenue to explore the growing pains and pleasures of our existence.
I also imagined a brand, BABYTEETH, as a platform to promote my collection. This prompted an aim for my designs: reconnecting BABYTEETH’s customer with the fantasy from their childhood, whilst providing items that can accompany them throughout life. Each garment, rich in symbolism and narrative, becomes a personal story, fostering an emotional connection with the customer’s past and present, empowering them to confidently stand out at any age. This offers customers a connection with their evolving selves.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
Tokens of the Ephemeral
Concept Development
Concept Research
Concept Research
Design Development
Design Development
Design Development
Design Manufacture
Branding
Colour Palette and Fabrics
Final Line Up
Outfit Breakdown
Outfit Breakdown
Outfit Breakdown
Photoshoot
Photoshoot
Photoshoot
DETAIL
Laser Cutting and Engraving Details
Influenced by my own Scandinavian heritage, I researched Norse mythology and Viking traditions to add another layer of depth to my design development. Vikings used to carve grooves into their teeth, believed to be a symbol of one's status as a warrior or meant to intimidate and frighten. These body modifications needed such accuracy, that a person with great skill would have carved them. I wanted to take this idea of precision and reimagine it using modern technology, leading me to the use of laser cutting and engraving in my collection, which played a key role in my concept execution. The intertwining, gnarled designs are inspired by the Norse ouroboros symbol, the serpent Jörmungandr, and Yggdrasil, the Norse tree of life. The motivation was to push this skill to develop unique statement details that demand attention and are rich with thought-provoking symbolism, similar to the impact of teeth carving.
“I think perfection is ugly. Somewhere in the things humans make, I want to see scars, failure, disorder, distortion.” - Yohji Yamamoto
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