I am a BA(Hons), final year Fashion Print student at Central Saint Martins. My third-year placement (2023/2024) was spent at JW Anderson. Vibrancy and playfulness are key characteristics of my work together with an aim to understand and develop more sustainable practices. My body of work combines print design and garment making to investigate themes of narrative, history and memory. 

My favourite process is screen printing as it produces a diverse range of outcomes. Recently I have developed my digital print skills in a project for Richard Quinn inspired by food, where I used Adobe Photoshop to manipulate my drawings into repeating prints. I also look at sustainability in my work, for example, with a team I created a collection of garments that would turn into habitats for wildlife, thinking about the life of garments after they had been worn. 

Narrative and historical detail play an important part in my work. For the Balenciaga project, I researched what inspired Cristobel Balenciaga within his own work. He was heavily influenced by Spanish culture and art, which in turn was shaped by Arab cultures, so I visited the Islamic Gallery at the V&A to draw the decorative elements in carpets and pottery. I then used these drawings to inform some carpet designs of my own to use in my final garment.

Balenciaga was also inspired by Spanish folk cultures so I interpreted this by looking at regional dress and folklore traditions in contemporary Spain and, in particular, the Mascaradas de Invierno festivals. I investigated La Fiesta De Jarramplas, where every year in Piornal, a man dresses up as the Jarramplas and parades through the town in a beautiful fringed garment while the townspeople throw turnips at him. I loved the playfulness of this festival so I incorporated this narrative into my work by, for example, using a turnip to make prints by both throwing and carving designs into it. I then linked all these themes together using Balenciaga’s work to create a cohesive narrative for my project. 

Instagram @messy_cloves