My Love: Mary Katrantzou

I am a digital textile designer through and through. I love the technology that goes with it. I love learning about new technologies that are created to make printed textiles even more spectacular (e.g. 3D printing - I'll do a post on that at some point.). I love how almost any print is made possible with digital. You can imagine it, get on Photoshop or Illustrator and design it. Done. 

I'm a messy printer in the workshop, which is probably a fair reason why I love digital so much. During my last year of University, an entire chapter of my dissertation was dedicated to new technologies found in the textiles industry, and in this chapter was a small mention of Mary Katrantzou. 

To say that I was writing and researching my dissertation around October/November time in 2012 and had never heard of Mary Katrantzou is weird. I still can't believe it to this day! I happened to just come across her work whilst doing some extensive research into digital print in fashion and she popped up.

So it was here that I fell in love with her work. I look back at her first collection and can't help but think how 'Basso and Brooke' it is. So space-age and random. But since then, she has grown substantially into a truly amazing and original designer. I like how the prints are blatantly something. Sounds like a strange thing to say, but a lot of prints are just a flurry of colour and you can't really tell what they are (unless they are a floral or an animal print), but in Mary Katrantzou's designs, you can tell that that's a maze, or that's a type writer, or that's a city scape. I love it! It's like a t-shirt design on a beautiful dress. 

Images from Mary Katrantzou's first catwalk show in 2009

I also really love the fact, and this is said in the least offensive way possible, that she is a bit of a plain Jane. She looks like a lovely, regular girl. She doesn't look like a super skinny, super bossy, harsh fashionista. She just looks normal, and I like that.

I follow Mary Katrantzou on Instagram and am constantly in awe with all the photos she takes! You can definitely tell she's got a great creative touch, and sometimes some of the pictures she takes could easily become part of her next collection! To follow Mary Katrantzou on Instragram just search 'marykatrantzou' in the explore search box.

So really, the basic gist of this post is that I love Mary Katrantzou, and I hope that if you stumble across this blog and have never heard of her before that I have now introduced you to your new favourite designer.

I've picked out a couple of my favourite Mary Katrantzou garments for you to browse.

Fashion and Textiles Graduates - Be Featured

Calling all third years of fashion and textiles!

It's that time of year. You're Easter Break was barely even a break and you probably ate so many chocolate eggs just for the sugar to keep you going on those long all-nighters. You're not really sleeping so well (when you do get to go to bed!) because you're constantly thinking about what needs to be done next, when the next deadline is, when will it be too late to start ordering fabrics, etc etc.

I know! I've been there. It's stressful, it's painful, it makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it also makes you fat. But don't worry! It'll all be over soon, and you'll see your work at your graduate exhibition, or at New Designers, or Tent. You'll stand back and feel so proud because you did all that work.

At the end of it all, when you've got time to calm down, then I'll be here awaiting your request for a Graduate Profile! You need to get your work out there. The more websites you're on the better.

I'm here to showcase your talents to the world. I am so excited to see what amazing prints/garments/products have come out of the creative minds of young designers.

Please take a look at some of last years Graduate Profiles by clicking here and scrolling down until you hit around September/July.


If you would like to be featured on this blog, please contact Kate at klynch@hotmail.co.uk.

H&M Conscious Collection: Don't let fashion go to waste.

Everyone in the entire textiles and fashion industry, in fact, just everyone should be giving H&M a huge round of applause, pat on the back and a triumphant trophy lift in the air.

Why? Because for one: they have set up their 'Conscious' collection which is using organic fabrics and using sustainable procedures in making their products and two: they are now collecting bags of used clothes (whether fit to wear or not) and are either re-using the clothes to help charities etc or recycling all unwearable fabrics to create new life for the fabrics.

Why has no company done this before? And why are H&M the only ones doing it?

I personally think this is amazing. Not only is the company putting the ethics back into fashion (don't get me started on sweater shops and fur coats), but they are making incredible sales too. Great move, H&M.

Just because it was so amazing and inspiring to read, below I have the H&M 'Conscious Actions Highlights 2012'. Please read it, it made me smile so much to know that a huge market leader in the fashion and textiles industry actually gave a damn about making the world a better place to live it! Hallelujah!

Earn Your Stripes! Marc Jacobs Spring 2013

I'm a huge fan of Marc Jacobs and more often than not I fall in love with his collections. His Spring 2013 collection is reminiscent of the 1960's with bold black and white contrast and resolute separation of colours. Simplicity was key in this collection: a very simple colour scheme of black, white, nude, red and blue. 

Stripes were everywhere: vertical, horizontal, on the collar, on the hem, big stripes, small stripes and optical illusion stripes.

I've chosen some of my favourite looks from the collection, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Traditional Florals: Spring 2013

As I was having a quick look through the Spring 2013 collections I noticed that a few designers had incorporated beautiful traditional florals into their prints. I find this really great to see because, although I adore all kinds of florals, I really do love a great traditional! I've picked out five designers to showcase these wonderful prints; Brood, Calla, Duro Olowu, Peter Som and Thakoon. 

Calla Spring 2013: Gorgeous florals that remind me of Japanese florals and calligraphy. A great juxtaposition between soft pastels against a pale background to bold colour pops against a dark. Beautiful leaf prints in an all blue colour scheme are incredibly elegant.

Brood Spring 2013: Very traditional - almost Cath Kidston with the mix of blues, pinks and whites. A fantastic use of brilliant roses and dark green leaves. I really love the mix of lace for the look too.

Thakoon Spring 2013: Traditional floras with a twist: using birds and butterflies to create a quintessentially english print. The use of line from the top to the bottom of the dress makes it looks as though the dress is a huge bird cage. The dark background in the second image down remind me of old renaissance paintings. The third image down is a little different, with an orange repeat print of what looks like a poppy. Beautiful illustration made me fall in love with this one.

Peter Som Spring 2013: This collection is probably the least traditional of the prints I picked out, but they reminded me so much of a Spring country garden with the gorgeous soft colours mixed with bolds. The shapes of the floral prints look a little bit like a lavender flower. 

Duro Olowu Spring 2013: Traditional with a twist. Not entirely created from florals, these prints hold beautiful sketches of old-fashioned women in garden situations looking to be having a gleeful time. The use of the situation sketches remind me a lot of Timourous Beasties work and doiles. A sweet little poppy print livens the collection up with a pop of red.