Hasan Hejazi Autumn/Winter 2013

During London Fashion Week I was invited to view Hasan Hejazi's Autumn/Winter '13 collection at the prestigious W Hotel, London. Since interviewing Hasan for Third Floor Publication last year I have been a huge fan of his work and have followed his moves. I knew when I met Hasan that his passion and abundance of talent would see him do well and his Autumn/Winter '13 collection has confirmed this. Full of elegance and lavishness this collection is perfect for that powerful women who is looking for clothing with that added extra. I really believe with the exquisit craftsmanship and attention to detail Hasan's Autumn/Winter '13 clothes will make any women feel $1 million dollars!

Featuring a colour palette of pale pinks, rich burgundy and vamp black the collection is given a luxurious feeling with sophisticated glitter. Frills, flattering peplums and shimmering fabrics gives the evening wear a modern edge. Hasan has really stepped up his game with this collection and has created a collection that is entirely flattering for the female form. Inspired by the formidable female icons from the 21st century Hasan sticks to his design style with dramatic necklines and full length evening gowns. 

The pale pinks are perfect for those looking for a bit of glamour in their wardrobe but don't want to seem too 'out there'. The collection offers so much versatilely with dresses, trousers, and accessories and really shows a maturity within his designs. A brilliant collection Hasan, you should be very proud!

 

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Interview with fashion designer, Hasan Hejazi.

http://thirdfloorpublication.co.uk/ http://www.hasanhejazi.co.uk/

The Hasan Hejazi woman is confident, fun and powerful. Hasan discusses with Third Floor his opinion on the fashion industry and how to remain positive in this difficult climate.

Since graduating, up-and-coming womenswear designer Hasan Hejazi has already achieved a tremendous amount and shows no signs of slowing down. Hasan graduated two years ago from The London College of Fashion with a master’s in Fashion Design. His graduate collection consisted of glamorous and powerful evening gowns that combined decadent luxurious fabrics with an indigo colour palette. The collection was showcased at the V&A and soon after was selected and stocked in Harrods as part of the ‘Harrods Launches’ initiative. “My first collection got picked by Harrods and it sold really well, which was amazing.” Growing up, Hasan had a keen interest in fashion design and at a young age he began experimenting by sketching dresses. “When I was really young I started designing wedding dresses for my mum. She was already married though, so I’m not too sure why I did that.” Hasan’s passion for dresses still influences the main body of his work today, with his signature luxury gowns and dresses accounting for the majority of his designs.

When it comes to fashion design, Hasan has always been persistent and determined when it comes to fashion design: he applied to study at Manchester University and, after being knocked back the first time, he pursued his dream and a year later was finally accepted. After graduating from Manchester University, his talent was recognised by London College of Fashion and he secured a place on their master’s Fashion Design course.

Hasan’s design aesthetic combines luxury garments with a fresh sporty edge, and for him the strong relationship between celebrities and his brand is extremely important. When designing, Hasan has been known to name his dresses after the celebrities they have been inspired by: “One of the most inspirational women to me is Madonna, so I named one of the dresses M because I didn’t want to be too obvious about it.” Another dress, the ‘Kylie’, was navy and chiffon, and immediately Hasan thought it would suit the celebrity: “I found the e-mail address for Kylie’s stylist, William Baker, and he said they loved the collection and a fitting with Kylie was arranged. Unfortunately, Kylie wasn’t very well so the fitting didn’t go as well as planned. However, they told me she tried on one dress which she fell in love with and it turned out to be the dress I named after her, before she even knew what it was called!”

Kylie Minogue, Marina and the Diamonds, Fergie from The Black Eyed Peas and, more recently, Jessie J have previously worn Hasan’s designs. His garments have graced the pages of Dazed and Confused, Tank and Vogue India, and the highly respected photographer Rankin shot his Spring/Summer 2011 collection look book. Scott Clark, the stylist for Marina and the Diamonds, contacted Hasan about Marina wearing one of his designs for the NME music awards. Hasan and Scott built up a strong working relationship. Scott also happened to work as a stylist for Rankin’s shoots: “It all came about from connections and he loved what I did. I found myself completely star-struck by him.”

When talking about his typical customer, Hasan describes her as: “A woman who is sure about who she is. She is powerful, but sometimes she might feel more powerful by putting on one of my dresses. I get inspired by lots of different types of women.” For his second collection, Hasan decided to name his dresses after women that he has found inspirational throughout his life. “Sometimes I will design a dress and I think it would suit a certain celebrity or musician so for my second collection I decided to name all of my dresses.” During the design process, colours, as for any designer, are extremely important for the talented Hasan. It was after his graduate collection that he made the decision to include pink in every collection, and it is now established as his trademark colour. “Somebody once wrote that Valentino has his red and I have my pink. Pink can be really fun and sexy, and then really sophisticated at the same time. Last season, even if a dress was white or green, the lining was always bright pink; it is my trademark colour.”

Despite the current economic climate, Hasan remains optimistic and has a positive mind- set when it comes to designing. “To be creative doesn’t cost money; I love sketching and will happily sit and sketch away, although it can often be disheartening knowing some designs might not get made.” Offering advice to those starting out in the fashion industry, Hasan states: “If you haven’t got passion and designing isn’t something that excites you every minute of the day, I would say give up now.” However harsh a reality this may seem, Hasan’s passion for fashion design has had a huge impact on the success he continues to have today. “The fact that I love designing so much helps me stay positive and excited.” With regular celebrity commissions and private consultancies coming in thick and fast, Hasan has made the decision to go against the grain, taking a couple of seasons out to design what he wants and when he wants.

Words by Katie Handy-Beith

Interview with NEWGEN designer; Tim Soar

Today the new NEWGEN designers have been announced for Spring/Summer 2013. Earlier in the year I interviewed NEWGEN designer, Tim Soar who was given exhibition space this year. 

Menswear and womenswear designer Tim Soar discusses his views on how the recession has had an effect on the business side of fashion.

Tim Soar is a British fashion designer of both menswear and womenswear, who was one of this year’s featured NEWGEN designers. He is also the owner of the global music consultancy company, Music Concrete, through which he has collaborated with brands such as Fendi and Adidas. Tim’s keen interest in fashion design was first sparked when he established POST Design in the 1980s with the renowned graphic designer, Neville Brody. Since POST Design, Tim has continued to design using menswear as his main focus, and his menswear label SOAR was launched in 2006. 

After six years working successfully as a menswear designer, Tim made the decision to branch out into womenswear: “I love menswear but there came a point when I thought womenswear is definitely going to be the way to establish my business and to move forward in fashion.” For his womenswear collections, Tim carries over his signature style into his collections, but altered with a feminine touch. Through his NEWGEN sponsorship, Tim’s Autumn/Winter 2012 womenswear collection was allocated exhibition space at London Fashion Week in which his collection was showcased. This year, his Autumn/Winter collection was heavily inspired by Japenese culture: “There are a lot of Kimono and Samurai armour references and an a-symmetry indication that was drawn from traditional Japanese clothing.”

Tim’s womenswear line takes aspects from his menswear collections, such as sharp tailoring and strong silhouettes with a fresh sporty edge, and adapts them in a way that is suitable and appealing for a female market. Tim discusses how the economic climate has been partly responsible for his switchover into women’s clothing design: “I wanted to make some money and womenswear is a much, much bigger market. It is very easy in fashion to have a business that doesn’t make money and it’s even easier to do so in menswear.” The recession means that it has been a very difficult time for fashion designers and Tim plans to use his womenswear collection as a way of establishing his business and making a name and profit for himself: “Notoriously, the late Alexander McQueen only started going into profit three or four years ago and he was one of the biggest designers Britain has ever produced.” For the time being, Tim’s main focus will be predominantly womenswear, but he still continues a menswear collection, with his eventual aim to bridge back into menswear. 

For Tim’s womenswear collection, NEWGEN has been a huge contributing factor to his success. “I knew about the BFC [British Fashion Council] from my menswear, so it was natural to apply for NEWGEN with my womenswear.” NEWGEN is one of the world’s most internationally recognised talent schemes, working in conjunction with the fashion industry, and in the past has supported designers such as Alexander McQueen, Matthew Williamson, Christopher Kane and, more recently, Meadham Kirchhoff and Mary Katrantzou. Discussing the benefits of NEWGEN, Tim states: “It is fantastic and a great platform for designers. London Fashion Week is internationally known, the BFC is internationally known, and therefore to be associated with it is just amazing!” London Fashion Week is very different when compared to other fashion capitals in terms of its strong support network for up- and-coming designers: “London has a great artisan history; something similar to NEWGEN doesn’t exist in Paris and it doesn’t really exist in New York or Milan. London is great because it has eclecticism.” London has a huge influence on the fashion industry worldwide and, in August 2011, took the fashion capital of the world top spot from New York, according to a survey by Global Language Monitor, conducted each year. “One of the biggest things that London has given to the fashion industry in the last ten years is vintage as a concept. It’s all about mixing style together and eclecticism, mixing old and new with expensive and old.” 

When it comes to the inspiration behind Tim’s designs, he uses a combination of physical and mental artefacts, as he says taking these mental references and turning them into designs is about “developing the mental picture in my head”. “I have been involved in the fashion industry for a long time now and have a huge mental reference of the last 30 years of fashion.” When it comes to physical artefacts, Tim loves vintage clothing: “I buy a lot of vintage pieces, and will often take a mood from them.” 

Within Tim’s designs, resilience remains an important factor for both his menswear and womenswear collections. “All of my garments are made with really good fabric that I know is going to last, and I think that is really important. There are some pieces which you know are going to be season pieces. They may not be physically tired but you know that, visually, people will want to have moved on. As a designer, it’s important that the price of your garments is heavily reflected in terms of quality. Your clothes have got to last – if people are paying a lot of money for your designs, then the clothes have got to last.” 

While the turbulent economic climate continues to have an effect on the fashion industry, for Tim the ‘sale’ aspect is something that he takes into account when designing his collections: “The fashion industry is going through a tough time, the general economic situation is not good and that leads to stores being more conservative about what they sell and becoming ruthless if items aren’t selling. It has to be a business, so to a certain degree this can limit what you’re doing, as you need to acknowledge that you need to make money. Fashion isn’t fine art, it is making clothes for people; and if your clothes don’t sell, then you aren’t doing your job properly.”

Word by Katie Handy-Beith

katiehandybeith@gmail.com

Interview with footwear designer: Chi Yuen

Chi Yuen is a footwear designer who was born in Hong Kong. She studied for her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at the School of Art Institute of Chicago and graduated with a degree in Fashion Design. She then went on to study MA Fashion Footwear at Cordwainer’s College of London. She has worked for Celine, Alexander Wang, Pollini and Nicholas Kirkwood. She is currently based in London, UK.

Third Floor’s features editor, Katie Handy-Beith was able to talk to Chi about her career and life…

Please tell us a bit more about yourself and why you chose to do a MA in fashion footwear.

Before I became a footwear designer, I specialized in womenswear fashion design, having obtained my Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Fashion Design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I previously worked for Celine and Alexander Wang. I enrolled in the MA Fashion Footwear course at LCF to learn more about footwear design and to further develop my project management skills.

How do you think doing a masters helped you?

The MA made me more confident in my designs and it polished by project management skills.

When designing what are your main inspirations?

My main inspiration comes from my surroundings and seeing women with great styles. I also take inspiration from art and architecture.

I love your final MA collection, the attention to detail is fascinating. What was the main inspiration behind this collection?

The collection was inspired by surrealism with a focus on Oppenheim’s Fur Breakfast, Margritte’s Les Amants and Dali’s Persistence of Memory. Misplacement of texture and materials on ordinary objects provoke immediate responses because of its unordinary qualities.

What is your favorite part of the design process?

Putting the designs into production, seeing the finished product and knowing that the idea works.

When planning your designs, do you consider resilience and how long your designs will last?

It depends on the designs. Part of the collection is more dramatic and less wearable as they were aimed at attracting attention. The rest of the collection is designed to be more wearable.

Tell us a bit about the materials that you use.

The materials I used include high quality calfskin leather sponsored by Les Rives srl in Italy and mink fur sponsored by SAGA FURS in Denmark and vegetable tanned leather.

What can we expect from Chi Yuen in 2012?

I will be looking to work for other footwear brands and setting up my label to continue a few projects.

Are there any projects that you are currently working on?

I am starting on a commercial fusion line of my MA collection.

What does fashion mean to you in 2012?

Femininity.

How would you cope with a fashion crisis?

Put on a pair of high heel shoes. Height gives you confidence.

Being a fashion designer can understandably be stressful at times, how do you cope with this?

I usually watch a film that is unrelated to fashion, which takes my mind off my work.

Do you have any other interests in fashion design that you might pursue in the future?

I am also interested in bags and other accessories.

Tell me three things about your job that you love.

Creativity, developing designs into finished products and every project is different from the last.