TESSA EDWARDS S/S 12

I began interning for Tessa Edwards in July, when she was in full swing of designing her SS12 collection. A crucial part to this collection, and for her vision of the Tessa Edwards brand were the jewellery and accessories. Previous collections have involved very large adornments (that you can see in my previous post) that refract light and colour.

I began working on prototypes for the orb-like structures around the arms and headpieces, influenced by Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. I love the way these pieces have been developed to be oversized, yet they sit comfortably on the body, and show how such

simple shapes can be combined to create intricacy. My patience was highly tested with these pieces though, half of them were crystallised with verrry small crystals. Eye straining!

Through working with Tessa, it became apparent that she is slightly obsessed with crystals. Not a bad thing at all, especially when Swarovski get involved. I was able to attend meetings between Tessa and Swarovski, and get a real understanding of what goes on behind the scenes, as well as learning how to present and interact with collaborators/clients.

As well as the jewellery side, I expanded my skills in pattern making/drawing and cutting. Having to put toiles together was sometimes a challenge, especially with Tessa's work being asymmetric, it was a bit of a puzzle for me, although I do feel like I'm beginning to get the hang of pattern cutting now. Even though I worked there initially for the jewellery, I loved doing samples for the collection.

Many of Tessa's garments for this collection had 'windows' and were layered up with neoprene and PVC which was to be laser cut so I also created the patterns on illustrator to be cut.

Also quite a foreign territory to me, Tessa created her own shoes for the collection. I found it really interesting visiting the workshops of the people who made the heels and uppers of the shoes. Places that I wouldn't normally visit, all very inspiring!

Tessa has an incredible amount of drive and determination. Her ideas are brilliant and I'm really looking forward to helping her out in the future. As well as creating her clothes, shoes and jewellery, she filmed and edited her own fashion film that was screened during London Fashion Week at Sketch.