It is a well-established truism that residencies can help a designer finding further inspirations to produce more innovative garments and accessories. This is definitely what happened to Holly Jayne Smith. A graduate of Birmingham City University, Smith won last year the inaugural British Council International Residency Award at Graduate Fashion Week.
Apart from basic needs such as flights and accomodation, this annual award - changing host countries every year - includes a tailor-made programme for up to a month.
Last year, between October and November, Smith moved therefore to Casablanca where she was hosted by the Moroccan Association of Fashion Designers and where she worked in a studio space provided by the Casa Moda Academy.
While spending time working with the winners of the New Moroccan Talent Award, Smith produced a small capsule collection inspired by her experiences in the country.
Yves Saint Laurent was mesmerised by the rich colours and craft heritage of Morocco that he integrated in some of his collections. Smith combined instead (the capsule collection is indeed entitled “Cross-Pollination”) contemporary sportswear in rich brocade fabrics and in bright shades of pink, fuchsia, green and lime, with Moroccan hand-made metal elements. These decorations look like crossovers between the jewellery of Berber women and architectural or interior design features (think about Moroccan lamps and you get an idea).
Some of her designs from this capsule collection (showcased in February at Fashion Scout) were also on display last week at London's Graduate Fashion Week and they perfectly showed how the young designer had tried to bridge the gap between her own background, dynamic moods, modern culture and traditional decorative elements from another country.
Image credits for this post
Images 1 to 4:
Photograpy: Stoney Darkstone
Hair and Make Up: Lauren Marie Sanderson
Hair: Abbie Sanderson
Models: Laura from Maroon London; Kiri Glibert
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