Ciara Monahan

Ciara Monahan is a womenswear and accessories designer from England. She specializes in digital print, laser-cut Perspex embellishment and her signature use of “blindingly bright” colours. Her collection will be presented during the Fashion Shows.

Hello Ciara! Where are you based? 

Above a bustling market street in Brixton, London.

What inspires you in general? 

My surroundings, just noticing life's little quirks. I got really excited that the colours and patterns on my shoes matched an unusual looking worm that was just chilling out on the pavement one morning. There's inspiration in pretty much everything if you keep your eyes open to it.

What place or city do you find inspiring? 

London is such a hub of inspiration. I'm lucky to live here, you only have to take a few steps out of the door and inspiration will hit you in the face. Pretty much literally.

Georgia Xanthe Dorey

Georgia Xanthe Dorey is an English textile designer. She graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2013 with an MA in printed textiles. 

Hello, Georgia! Where are you based?

I live between London and the rural English countryside where my studio is based.

What inspires you in general?

Day-to-day use of texture, colour, shape and combinations that I see all around me.

What is it like to be a young artist in your country?

Exciting, hard and lonely.

What attracts you about the FASHIONCLASH platform?

That it represents an exciting moment in a designer’s career. The work on show has not lost its sense of excitement; the FASHIONCLASH platform captures new ideas and a new way of thinking.

The FASHIONCLASH Exhibition is curated under the theme of ‘Age’. How does your creation relate to this year’s theme?

‘Wrap’ is a series of cloths suitable for wrapping all manner of bodies, ages and objects, which provide protection and adornment. My work is an exploration into the human relationship with cloth and shape. Each cloth can be interpreted by the individual, regardless of age, gender or ability; each cloth can function in a unique way brought to life by the individual.

Freya Proudlock

Photographer: Mitchell McLennan

Let us introduce you to Frey Proudlock, an English knitwear designer, who recently moved to Amsterdam. Her collection will be presented at the fashion show. Freya grew up in London and completed a degree in Fashion Knitwear Design and Knitted Textiles in Nottingham. Her work explores stitch and pattern through the use of experimental techniques in both fine and chunky gauges.

Hello, Freya! What inspires you in general? 
Colours, textures and structures. I enjoy looking at other cultures and their take on design.

What place or city do you find inspiring? 
London, Amsterdam and other major cities. I enjoy visiting galleries and exhibitions. Being around creativity and design inspires and motivates me.

What attracts you about the FASHIONCLASH platform? 
It’s always nice to be able to showcase a collection in a new way to a new audience. Seeing the collection in new contexts opens up the possibilities of my practise.

What is the concept behind your latest collection? 
"Modern Japan is a strangely familiar country which, through its own ambivalent exoticising of the West, has at once inflected, resisted and reversed the binaries of orientalism." (N. Perry in Hyperreality and Global Culture).
Cultures are evolving, merging and borrowing different cultural attributes from one another, which has become more apparent and widespread since the growth of globalisation. Cultures are of course dynamic rather than static and will naturally change and develop when they interact with each other. I researched into both Japanese and British culture taking inspiration from traditional fashion and textile influences. I don’t think of my collection as being solely conceptual, this was the starting idea and hopefully the collection developed into being something autonomous.