Meet Natasha Finlay, a graduate from Northampton University who won the GFW21 Accessories Award, supported by YKK. Natasha’s final major project is inspired by dreams and nightmares that she and her peers experienced due to the pandemic. She translated these dreams into a collection that won over the industry judges with her use of print. Read more below!
How do you feel about winning an award at GFW21?
I wanted to go into that award with an open mind. When I found out I was shortlisted then a finalist then the winner it felt amazing. I am absolutely over the moon that the judges loved my work as much as I do and it makes me feel really confident to think they see something in me that was worth the win.
What is the most valuable thing you have learnt at university?
I have learnt so much since being at uni, not only in myself but as a designer. I have definitely grown as a person and realised that being yourself is so important and as long and you love with you do it will show through your work. I have enjoyed every minute of it even if it has been a hard experience.
What was the starting point of inspiration for your final project?
My concept for my final major project is based on dreams as I have always been fascinated by dreams. I keep a dream journal and had noticed that since the COVID-19 pandemic, I had been having strange dreams in the first lockdown I took to social media and asked everyone if they were experiencing the same change in their dreams as me, and it became clear this was the case. I observed a trend that the dreams demonstrated a form of escapism from what was happening in our world.
I asked all my social media contacts to share with me their own dream experiences and I received over 100 different messages from people detailing their personal dreams during the first lockdown. They ranged from sleep paralysis, nightmares and psychedelic dreams. I love hand drawing and painting and I wanted to create a visual dream journal for my FMP. In my sketchbook, I started to interpret my own Covid dreams as well as those provided to me by social media. I started hand drawing these dreams using my own imaginative interpretation, and then I extracted elements from each dream and mixed them together to create a range of bold, colourful, intricate prints.
What form does your FMP take?
My FMP takes the form of Garments. My final outcome has always been to produce a range of garments that work together in my collection. My garments consist of hooded puffa coats, long and short. Alongside my printed dream coats are shorts, jumpers and joggers. These are items that have been designing to fit my target market exactly. Another element to my collection are my accessories, such as my dream stealers.
I brought my prints to life and created a range of different sized padded monsters that are attached with industrial chains, resting on top of my padded coats. When reading through everyone’s messages, I noticed that a lot of dream experiences were actually nightmares, and often people are haunted by these distinctive long-legged figures with distorted faces. These haunting figures steal the chance for us to enjoy our dreams, causing intense fear which can result and crippling sleep paralyse. By creating these figures into playful accessories, I hope to eliminate the fear and bring a sense of joy.
What materials have you used and how did you source them?
As a result of the pandemic and being a print student I was very limited to what I could use as I was not in the print room! But I sourced recycled polyester for the dream puffa coats not only for their sustainable qualities but it was the best-suited fabric for my designs, this was digitally printed. It was an added bonus being a recycled material. When it comes to my dream stealer teddies the fabric I used was scrap fabric I had found from the university, I stuffed the puppets with a mixture of wadding and fabric cut off from my other garments.
How has it evolved from your initial ideas and what have you learnt along the way?
The evolution of my FMP has been a fun, exciting yet challenging journey. While starting off my research with newspaper articles, related podcasts and my social media, this soon fed into my sketchbook. I found this part of my FMP quite hard as I realised quickly that my creativity was the main driver. Although people were messaging me details and explaining parts of their dreams, it was up to me to bring those dreams to life visually and by hand, the complexity of this I underestimated.
These visual dreams became the backbone of my entire collection, the garments, the prints, the accessories, the colour palette, the target market etc. The visual dream journal drove my concept and allowed me to produce products to be better than I ever expected. I have learnt that if you have an Idea just to run with it regardless of what others tell you. You are the designer and although it is important to have feedback and advice from your peers and tutors, at the end this is your collection and degree so make sure what you produce/design is something you believe in and are proud of.
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?
While researching into the sleep doctor I found out that we don’t know why we dream…all we know is that it is essential we do so. If we don’t dream when we are asleep our minds will force us to dream while we are awake, causing hallucinations. What I want people to take away from my project is to understand the severity of sleep and how important sleep is that we allow ourselves the right to have the amount of sleep our body is asking from us.
What’s an aspect of the fashion industry that you’re passionate about fixing or having a positive impact on?
I am passionate about bringing back the craftmanship of print design. I have recognised that majority of print is developed digitally. While digital prints are of high quality I believe as an industry hand-drawn and hand created prints have been lost and aren’t as common as they should be. As I designer I will take pride in knowing my designs are being produced by hand, while highlighting traditional printed textiles skills.
Now that you have finished your degree, what's your plan?
My plans now are just to be open-minded and take any opportunity that comes my way! I don’t want to close myself off to anything and I’m excited for what the future holds whatever it may be.