Meet Olivia Creighton, a fashion design graduate from Sheffield Hallam University. Olivia’s final major project is an exploration of feminism and feminine stereotypes of the 1950s in America. “My project was a look at the untraditional view on feminism different to the narrative we know today, women who believed that equal rights for women were anti-feminism and the best way to practice being a good wife, mother and woman was to stay at home and fulfil the duties that were thrust upon you from a childbearing age,” she explains. Read more below!
How do you feel about winning an award at GFW21?
Over the moon! It's so easy to have times where you seriously doubt yourself and your abilities and I feel like working from home during lockdown really magnified those feelings for me so to have won an award was really a boost of confidence for me and was a testament to my resilience during these moments. It's also amazing to feel like your hard work has really paid off and been recognised by professionals. It was also an amazing experience to get to come to London and showcase my work and the awards ceremony was brilliant.
What is the most valuable thing you have learnt at university?
Practically I think pattern cutting skills are definitely the most valuable thing I have learnt as it's not something that comes natural to me to get my head around and so the techniques and understanding I have learnt has been vital. I think the confidence I have gained throughout all my courses though has been the most valuable to me as a person going forward as it has given me the ability to create work I'm really proud of and worked on mostly solo from home and made me want to carry on creating post-degree.
What was the starting point of inspiration for your final project?
I started by looking at downtrodden housewives around the 1950's and this glamorised idea of remaining a housewife when the Equal Rights Act was being introduced in America. I wanted my project to be a sort of horror story whilst being quite tongue in cheek and comical. I have always had a love of vintage clothing and furniture and so sought inspiration from antique household items such as crochet table cloths and this featured quite heavily throughout my project.
I looked at all the personalities and aspects of being a woman in this time which were the mother, the cleaner, the wife and the cook and took silhouettes, colours and fabric inspiration from each part. My project was a look at the untraditional view on feminism different to the narrative we know today, women who believed that equal rights for women were anti-feminism and the best way to practice being a good wife, mother and woman was to stay at home and fulfil the duties that were thrust upon you from a childbearing age.
What form does your FMP take?
My FMP was made up of 2 final looks. The first consisting of a large oversized floral dress drawing inspiration from vintage silhouettes with a high ruffled neck and hand-drawn floral print, printed onto cotton poplin. The second consisted of a ruffled gingham print bodysuit with gloves, flounced mesh dress layered over, and thick latex men’s shirt hung up supported by harness and metal structure that gives the impression of a shirt hung up on a washing line. I also have an accompanying portfolio showcasing my research into my design development process and finally showing my final lineup with technical flats.
What materials have you used and how did you source them?
I tried to use contrasting fabrics throughout my collection for a juxtaposition. I created my floral print which used soft feminine colours such as nude and pink and wanted to offset this by using bright primary colours such as green and bright yellow. I therefore opted to use latex in these primary colours as I had already got some samples of this material from being out on my placement year. I got in contact with a latex company that used the same latex I already had to manufacture their garments in order to create my shirt.
The crochet that runs throughout my collection I collected over the lockdown period, second hand from eBay and Etsy, I had done some draping with it during my initial design process at half scale and so took the measurements I needed and doubled and searched for existing crochet table cloths in these dimensions. The printing I had done for the oversized dress I sent off to Contrado to be done, as with tights I had done in matching print for my second look.
How has it evolved from your initial ideas and what have you learnt along the way?
I had originally thought I would create a collection that was all dresses and very feminine but I quickly realised that I wanted to create something more eye-catching hopefully to be chosen to show my collection at GFW and so opted for using different materials and colours I hadn't previously considered. I was also quite stuck initially when looking for fabrics as we couldn't actually go to shops to look for these and so when the idea came to me to create my own print this seemed to be a game-changer.
I definitely learnt to manage my time better along the way and trust my instinct more. I had never previously enjoyed the pattern cutting process that much but looking back I wish I'd had the confidence to get stuck into that earlier on in the year as I realised looking back that it came more naturally to me creating something I was passionate about and so I might have been able to create more or pushed the boundaries even more.
What are the messages and themes behind your project that you want people to take away? Do explore any topics like diversity, sustainability or politics in your work?
My takeaway message from my collection would be a reminder that fashion should always remain fun, whether that's just getting dressed on a morning, wearing something that makes you feel good, shows your personality and is just fun to wear. I think my collection is high fashion but doesn't take itself too seriously with the fabrics and colours used. I think all fashion should not necessarily be trend-led but cultivation of things we love so to me that is colours, vintage clothing, ruffles and the bigger and more oversized, the better!
Too often I have bought things that I don't necessarily love or think suits me just because it's the fashion at the minute and these are the things we often don't hang onto for very long, the vintage second-hand clothing I've bought that might be 50 years old but are shapes and prints I love, is my most treasured items and there's no reason why this fashion should just remain vintage!
What’s an aspect of the fashion industry that you’re passionate about fixing or having a positive impact on?
I'm very passionate about buying and wearing clothing that might be more of an investment but is something we hope to have in our wardrobe for years and years to come but is also made as sustainably as possible. As mentioned before, the items in my wardrobe I might have bought from Depop/eBay that are vintage are my most worn and loved pieces and to know they're not as readily available as fast fashion, makes me want to hang onto them for a long time.
I think we should all be striving to wear clothes that make us feel good and that we love and that way the desire to keep going out and buying more and buying into trends hopefully diminishes. Also going forward brands need to take more responsibly for their own carbon footprint when it comes to manufacturing clothing and the responsibility shouldn't solely be on the consumer to make better choices. I have seen a lot of brands 'greenwashing' in recent times and I think transparency from brands should be crucial going forward to achieve more sustainable practice in fashion.
Now that you have finished your degree, what's your plan?
Given the success and feedback, I've had since finishing my degree my plan now is to try to set up my own womenswear slow fashion brand on a made to order basis creating vintage-inspired fashion, made to size and made to wear for years to come sourcing dead-stock and responsibly made fabrics created at home by me in Sheffield.