About Me
Hi I'm Yasmin, a Fashion Design graduate from Cambridge School of Art
Yasmin Connor is a womenswear designer of Jamaican-British heritage based in Cambridgeshire specializing in fashion design, with intentions to continue in the design and styling sectors. In her work, she values expression of life experiences through fabric manipulation, connecting to her audience through artistic visual appreciation and love of fashion.
Other key values apart from the importance of story and expression are: collaboration, quality, fair labour, pre-researched resourcing and inclusion of heritage. In this particular collection, she highlighted her own heritage in illustration and model selection. Having representation of natural hair from Jamaican heritage celebrated, instead of leaving such details to after thoughts, as seen with models of colour currently lacking experienced stylist to work their hair, and show love to a feature that as a woman of colour herself she had to grow to love due to comparison of media and peers.
INSPIRATION
My initial inspiration was created through exploring my experience of grief and healing from this.
Healing through grief is a topic I have personally explored ever since my mother passed away five years ago; through this collection it gave me the opportunity to express the untangling of emotions experienced throughout loss, to then commemorating the connections strengthened in grief. Highlighting the importance of support systems, a way for each within them consoling and building one another up through a tough time, where the lost loved would have.
Within my research for this collection I followed the route of exploring sculpture work that echoed with my own personal emotions and stages of grief on a visual level; as these pieces seemed to resonate the most through my artistic research. Through this route I came across the works of Sibyille Peretti's 'Glass children', Mihoko Ogaki's 'dying figures' and lastly Pia Männikkö's 'Déjà Vu VII' installation. Each piece conveyed grief for me beautifully; the fragility of life, and cherished frozen stories.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
Title & Season
Conceptual Statement & Mood Board
Collection Statement Board
Conceptual Imagery Research Board
"Origins and Questions of our inner child"
Colour Selection Board
"Sometimes laughter helps to process tough times"
Technical Process Board
"Pushed from our consciousness"(MÄNNIKKÖ. P, 2012)
Fabric Selection Board
Brand Statement & Values
Illustration Line Up
Change of time
Ever changing weakness & strength
Guidance
"Don't let go"
Strength in Consoling
Insight to my design process on this Instagram
Maivis-Lane : Yasmin Connor
DETAIL
Close up on details of both the top and corset from look 1 of my collection
With each individual garment I took the care to add purpose and meaning into every detail, even in the creation of fabrics such as for the corset. In this corset I have the usage of my own fused silk, where using two silks, a heat press and a product called ‘steam and sew’ I fused the two silks together giving the original fabrics a new metallic colour blend as well as changing the structure of the fabric from soft to rigid; mimicking a metaphorical armour given through support as we heal diminishing our grief. This image also highlights the following techniques: bound seams, stipple dying, and weaved ribbon. Each is done by hand and with individual symbolism. Bound seams representing strong bounded support of family. A Stipple dye effect sponged onto the fabric, this detail portraying gradual acceptance and escape from the depressive and denial stage of grief. And lastly the usage of weaved ribbon through eyelets, which expresses the flow of emotions through highs and lows as we heal in grief.
"Attract our fascination with moments in human development we sometimes pushed from our consciousness.”
Graduate Fashion Week in partnership with:
