Gemma Wade: Fashion Designer

Finding her passion at a young age; Gemma Wade, 21, has been working towards a career in fashion from very early on.

Growing up in Spalding, Lincolnshire, Gemma packed up and moved to Huddersfield to start her degree in Fashion design with Marketing and promotions at the University of Huddersfield.

“I have always been interested in anything fashion related from a young age… i love designers such as Mary Katrantzou and Holly Fulton as they always produce such beautiful collections from season to season.”

As like a lot of young people these days, Gemma is driven by the thought of succeeding. “I always want to try and be successful in what i do and so i always push myself to try harder.”

“I hate the thought of failing.”

For her final year of university, Gemma is currently in the process of designing a fashion collection.

Inspired by the architecture and interior details you would find in english royal palaces and stately homes, Gemma says ‘I hope my collection turns out to be the vision i have in my head, which sometimes can be hard to produce when we have to logically pattern cut the garment in 2D to get the 3D product.’

“I hope i’ll be proud of what the collection is and not hate it because I’ve seen it too much!”

Looking at Gemma’s designs so far, the collection is filled with intricate patterns and intriguing shapes that can take you from one aspect of the design to another. The colours reflect those of what you would find in stately homes; Blacks, deep and royal blues which are complimented by metallic golds.

Designs by Gemma Wade.

Designs by Gemma Wade.

Designs by Gemma Wade.

Taking inspiration from many different parts of her life, Gemma says, “It’s hard to pin point exactly where and how i find inspiration because it can be different for every project… Sometimes i will find an image on ‘Pinterest’ that i find interesting which i will look further into and develop an idea. Other times i will go somewhere and love the architecture of a particular style or city and take inspiration from that.”

The process of creating a collection (especially one with a strict deadline) can be daunting and exhausting. Fashion design students have it tough when creating their final collections as they are really thrown in at the deep end.

Being inspired, researching, illustrating, designing, designing some more, pattern cutting again and again and putting everything together to create a final collection is handwork and a challenge for such young designers however Gemma thrives from the challenge of the technical elements involved.

Designs by Gemma Wade.

Designs by Gemma Wade.

Designs by Gemma Wade.

Designs by Gemma Wade.

“Pattern cutting can be really hard work because it can be really technical… But i like it! I feel good once i have completed the pattern and it actually works!”

“I love seeing designs come together to form a collection especially when we manufacture a design and it goes perfectly”

With anything taken on in life there can always been moments of self doubt, “I know that before I started my degree I was worried that I wasn’t good enough for the course but don’t worry because you develop over the years and there is a big difference now from where I started in first year. Just enjoy yourself and take every opportunity you can. A course that offers a placement year is a bonus because I took a placement year and I learnt so much and I feel that it has prepared me for final year and when I work in industry.”

During Gemma’s own placement year, she was given the opportunity to work a s a junior knitwear designer supplying to high street brands. Over the year Gemma not only learned invaluable knowledge, she also had one of her own designs supplied to Sainsbury’s own fashion brand ‘TU’.

 

Here at The Arts Platform, we look forward to catching up with Gemma in a couple of months to see how her collection is doing.

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December 30, 2015March 13, 2016 by Stephania Plazzi Categories: Fashion 6 Comments