The Talents of Louise Gray.

Through starting this blog, it has inspired me to want to gain diverse knowledge of all things associated with fashion. From new talented designers to discovering new reading material, to new collections being released mainstream and finding new blogs that are being written by talented, knowledgeable individuals and which I thoroughly enjoy reading through and finding out new things that in turn I would like to research and find out more, I feel that through something I enjoy reading about and looking through it has open my eyes in discovering a whole new world that is Fashion, it covers such a vast amount of material and talent that I feel I will never ever be able to cover it all, but that's one of the aspects I love; that each individual has there own taste so will naturally be attracted to different aspects of the whole subject and in turn have their own interpretations and way of appreciating peoples work and involving it in their own style, either through writing about it, incorporating it within their style or simply just enjoying it.

So from following this method, I have chosen Louise Gray a talented designer, which I have found out about through other bloggers firstly, then backed up by my own research and interpreting her designs from my own personal view, not through expert designer knowledge or even knowing the method carried out to create a collection; this is uninfluenced by others, instead expressed through initial thoughts from looking at images of her work and writing down my views and ideas, agree or disagree, which is the whole enjoyment of opinions and how different individuals review others talents.

Researching, occasionally represents certain patterns when researching similar talents, for example, take clothing designers. It is a common sentence I come across, no different to Louise's background, 'went on to graduate with an MA from Central Saint Martins in London.' What happens in this mysterious place? Not that I'm complaining, it seems generations of renowned artists, designers and performers-individuals whose work has transformed or defined our times, began their creative journeys from Central Saint Martins. Founded by William Letherby in 1989 with the merging of two other collages. They are able to boast that they were the beginning of the new wave of exciting talent of British designers, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney, to name just a few of the well known.

Back to Louise, immediately following her graduation she was selected by Fashion East and showed three seasons there. If being read by a experienced fashion insider, you will be well aware of Fashion East, but like all my research I am always being lead down different paths, trying to gain more knowledge of all these different Institutions. Fashion East is a non-profit initiative established by the Old Brewery in 2000 to nurture emerging young designers through the difficult early stages of their career, receiving some of its sponsorship funding by Topshop. Each season they offer three designers (both womenswear and menswear) the opportunity to represent a catwalk collection to the international press and buyers attending London Fashion Week. Successors include, House of Holland, Holly Fulton and the designer we are currently discussing Louise Gray.

I feel that the best description of her work, comes from her own personal biography, who can describe it better than the lady herself...she has created a label 'based on brightly hued, boldly textured garments whose shapes are simple and where movement and embellishment takes centre stage. Employing a wide range of materials, nothing is quite what it seems in Gray's work. Contrast is key and Gray reworks traditional stitches and embroidery techniques to create modern folk details and trompe l'eoile effects.

I completely adore the whole look Gray has created, and nothing does a designer more justice than their items to be instantly recognisable and linked to the designer's work. The brightly colours makes even the simplest round neck t-shirt a resemblance to her design decisions.

Her latest collection involves a whole contrast of prints, textures and shapes, created using various layers and remarkable details of ragged material draped beautifully in a messy art form, styled in the hair and falling perfectly unorganised over the clothes. The vast amount of materials used, in a varying colour palette, knotted and tied in various forms to create a collection of stark shorts, sheer skirts, dresses, shirts and beautifully knotted pale grey trousers once again complemented by brightly coloured tshirts layered with strips of knotted, patterned fabrics. And all topped of with a pastel raffia pom pom in each models hair, a perfect finishing touch to Gray's outstanding ambitious creations. Perfectly imperfect.

And although, unfortunately, there are few stockist's in the UK that allow us to be able to purchase such beautiful clothing, I have come across it on ASOS recently, a perfect opportunity to buy into such a talented designers work.

Louise Gray, it was a pleasure to have a sneak peek into your wonderful world of designing, I'm looking forward to watching you and your amazing creations grow...