Babesta Beat AW 2017

ON INSPIRATION “It really depends on the season. That could be films, music, art or theatre. I am lucky to live in London where there is so much creativity to discover. I try to go to see at least one exhibition per week. I tend to go more for surreal or abstract art from the early to mid 20th century. I also love to look at album covers from this period. I think there is a lot of inspiration there.”

LOVES & PET PEEVES IN FASHION “I absolutely love my job. It is full of creativity, imagination and story telling. You can step into another world with it. It makes people happy as they can take on different personas with different outfits. On one hand I love the pace of it as it gives me the opportunity to create something new every six months and to improve and learn. There is no progress in repeating what you feel safe with. The key is in taking risks. Fashion gives you the opportunity to reinvent yourself. On the other hand keeping up with that pace is very stressful and costly. It is like investing in a whole new business twice a year. There are lots

ON THE DESIGN PROCESS “While I am researching a season I get so many ideas on a certain

subject that it is too difficult to put [it all] into one collection, so by then I already know what is going to be the inspiration for the following collection. Usually these subjects are ones that I am personally deeply passionate about and that I am surrounded with in my everyday life. I think of a story and put mood boards together which visually tell that story. I try to translate that story into form and cut by initially experimenting—trying to think out of the box on how a cut is going to work. At the same time I consider how graphics and embroidery are going to enhance the garment and reinforce the story. I think a garment needs to be special in some way, different from anything else seen before and giving confidence to the wearer, whether that might be a child or an adult. I believe my clothes give kids courage to be seen and noticed without being show-offish.” ON THE AUTUMN / WINTER COLLEC TION “The AW17 collection is based on a 20th century

of components that go into making a collection and my job is to make sure all of those components arrive on time and fit together. This speed of producing new collections every six months stands against my ethics in a way. I don’t believe in throw-away products. I believe in sustainable ethically produced fashion which doesn’t follow trends and which lasts for generations. Unfortunately as fun as it is, it is a business.” ON THE PERFECT OCCAS ION FOR A R ASPBERRY P LUM FROCK “That really depends on the mood of the wearer rather then the place. If you feel like wearing a posh frock to the sand pit I am all for it. I love expressing myself through clothes whatever the occasion and that is the ethos I carry through to my collection. Rules don’t apply.” ON THE FUTURE OF FASHION “I hope that the fashion industry will take greater care to use more sustainable processes in manufacturing. Customers are becoming more aware of where their clothes are coming from and demand more transparency. This should hopefully influence the supply chain and manufacturing laws. Unfortunately the fashion

avant-garde circus and its influence on art and fashion. It pays homage to artists such as Matisse who took inspiration for many of his collages from the circus as well as legendary Elsa Schiaparelli, whose designs were bold, surreal and closely linked with circus costume and graphics. I am very excited about how the customers will react to these playful shapes and graphics.”

industry is one of the biggest world pollutants and this needs to change. Cheap, throw-away fashion is one of the biggest causes of environmental damage and the source of human rights violations. Some customers will become more aware of this and buy less but get better quality brands with more transparency. I believe we are going through an important evolution of awareness not just in fashion but in general.”