The concept for my Children’s wear collection consists of the idea of different environments in which children play and what they choose to wear to explore their surroundings. Comparing different classes through history that wore formal attire with the ‘play’ clothes of modern day, children growing up, learning and playing in a street environment. Exploring childhood as a concept I wanted to portray the idea of how children enjoy impersonating their parents as a form of expression and play, using make believe to explore their parents lives through their own eyes. Expressing these ideas through garments looking at oversizing and tailoring. My collection is coherent to the idea of growing with your clothes incorporating drawstring sleeves so children won’t grow out of them as quickly and will last them as they grow. My garments incorporate both smart and casual aspects, this playful smart wear can be worn to various occasions.

I explored the work of a few photographers who document the High Line throughout the seasons, and focused on one in particular, Joel
Sternfeld, whose work was used in a bid to rejuvenate this forgotten wildscape in the heart of Manhattan. Looking further into the
juxtaposition of wild landscape against concrete architecture, I found artist Michael Landy and photographer Wolfgang Tilmans; Landy
creates delicate etchings of weeds found at roadsides, and Tilmans has a series of photographs showing the resilience of wild nature
growing in window boxes in urban areas. In order to translate this imagery into my designs I’ve created an all over repeat print influenced by the photographers I’d looked at, painting a variety of plants and weeds that are growing on the High Line and mixing them together to create a dense, overgrown look. I also experiemented with creating prints taking influence from the Barbican, looking at how light creates different shapes as it hits the concrete, to contrast against the foliage of my all over print. My collection brings together a mix of tailored, boxy garments, oversized knitted pieces and sportswear detailing, featuring lots of layering to mesh all these styles together, portraying the mix of natural and manmade elements. I’ve also used unusual materials such as concrete, artificial turf and insulation fabric to create different textures, and alter the way the garments work on the body.

My collection has a grunge theme which is moulded around Kurt cobain and Courtney loves wild lifestyle. My collection is very chilled with a strong edgy feel with their presence being strongly used in my collection in the forms of embroidery and print.