Emerging Fervour

Large tote bag in aged cloudy calfskin

I feel like I’m finally reaching the end, I’m one step away, although I have said that a few times…. There is always something to tweak and improve on but I don’t know how much of a perfectionist I should be at this stage.

It’s a scary thought to realise your product will be on show very soon and there will be a market to judge you… By purchasing or not purchasing. Pass or Fail.

At the moment I feel like I am not entirely happy with the collection, but I know from experience that this is often the case with my personal work, and its the same for many designers. You also have to work out a balance of how long you need to study each bag, too little and it may be under developed, too long and you are suddenly over it and hate it. Hopefully I have struck the right balance…

I was looking at these amazing photographs of fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh, an old ‘fave’ of mine. I remember pouring over these images in old nineties Vogues when I was about 10 or 12 years old. The Chanel shoot with the bevy of supermodels – almost all of them, has great nostalgia for me and really moved me when I saw it recently. The impact actually inspired my little black bag and for me, is a small but true reflection of that era.

So off I trotted to my little production team and began creating my LBB whilst we worked on the pattern for the first design.

Trying to keep the collection in the same vein, tying in details that keep them a family. An outside tutor from Saint Martins once mentioned to me that a collection is like a family. That each piece can be quite individual… Like brothers and sisters which don’t actually look alike but have a similarity to them. And this is what I do believe a collection is. I looked at more images from Peter Lindbergh and found colours and patterns for leathers and linings inspired from a early nineties Versace ad campaigne. I liked the warm moody tones of charcoal, grey and deep blues. Perfect for a Autumn/ Winter collection.

Starting my first ever collection for my handbag label CLEMENTS has been a little bit trickier than I initially thought. First of all, where do you begin and when do you call it quits! Well, you can never call it quits is what I have learned but you can finalise and move on with a fresher start once a new season starts. And I’m already so excited to progress with that!

But as all designers know, the labour of production wavers ahead and I must get that running before any new collection starts. Before that I had sampling which is transferring drawn designs into an actual product. This is where things get tricky.

It all starts with a 101 crazy ideas…..

It feels like years ago when I jotted down initial ideas and roughs for developing this collection. My first roughs are laughable but it’s that process that gets you to your finals and creates a story to the collection.