Krystle: Where are
you from, and how do you think your background has influenced your creativity?
Brandy: I am from
a very, very hot place in America called Phoenix, Arizona! There are so many
different things that lead to me being a creative and visual thinker. Most
important of these things would be my artsy grandmother who taught me how to
sew & knit, my mother who always told me not to care what anyone thought of
the way I dressed, and moving to the desert at 9 years old where I felt weird
as a teenager and got to see some of the most amazing landscapes in the world!
Plus, I think the lack of clothes people wear in Phoenix due to shear heat
really put me off and thus I seem to design with a lot of layers and extra
details.
Krystle: When did
you begin designing?
Brandy: Probably
without realizing it around the age of four, I started drawing, in particular
ladies, and would make clothes for dolls. At 13, I started to understand that I
had been drawing ladies for a reason and wanted to learn how to make clothes
properly. By 14, I knew I wanted to study fashion at university!
Krystle: I love
how funky your collections are! What makes cats so special to you, and what
role do they play in your designs?
Brandy: Thank you
so much! My entire life has been surrounded by cats whether at my house, my
aunts', my sister's, we are kind of obsessed with cats in my family. However, I
usually try not to combine these strange obsessions with designing as I had
always found it an overwhelming idea to be influenced by something so close to
me. All of the research I did prior to designing my collection kept leading to
cats though and I kept denying it until I had a little encouragement as well as
discovering a great documentary called Cat Ladies! It was so inspiring to see
that, actually, my obsession wasn't so bad and these ladies are a bit mad, yet
had this really interesting, effortless, but weird style. Now that I have
designed around these ladies and used my own two cats as a print for my
collection I feel like my cats and maybe all cats should be on clothes! In fact
a lot of my own t-shirts and my friend's t-shirts have become covered in my
print so it's slowly taking over my wardrobe and other people's too!
Krystle: If you
hadn’t designed around cats, which
animal would you choose to base a collection on?
Brandy: I have
designed with rabbits before but I think if I wanted to choose a new animal it
would be a battle between giraffes and guinea pigs! They are both too cute!
Maybe I should combine them!
Krystle: Do you
have a favorite piece of yours that you wear often? If so, what makes that one
special?
Brandy: My favorite
piece that I wear a lot is probably the pink and blue shorts that look like
skirts. They are special to me because the blue is a fabric from my dear friend
Chrysteena and the pink have my two cats all over them and they are extremely
comfortable and practical, which is very important to me. I am obsessed with
clothes that have pockets!
Krystle: Where do
you find your reclaimed materials? Is it difficult to work with any of the
fabrics?
Brandy: I find
them all over, really. A lot came from my grandmother who had loads of fabric
from the 60s/70s that she had never used so it was in perfect condition. I also
got donations from family and friends including old bed sheets, couch covers,
old clothes and more- all washed of course! I used my own old clothes and
fabrics I had collected over the years.
Very few of the fabrics were 'new' but the ones which were, were all end
of line materials. Even the inks I used to paint and print were old! It was
difficult to use some of the fabrics as there wasn't much of some materials so
I had to design around them and just be super careful when making so that I
didn't destroy anything that I couldn't obtain more of. I don't see these
challenges as a bad thing at all though, and I think it's a part of my design
process and can't imagine having all of the fabrics I could dream of at my
fingertips. I prefer this limited selection that pushes me to think more.
Krystle: In what
ways do you hope to grow as a designer?
Brandy: Well at
the moment I am working as a designer for From Somewhere which is a brand that
reclaims fabric so it's the perfect job for me. Being so young, I think I don't
want to start my own label making seasonal collections just yet. Especially
because I feel like there are so many brands in London and around the world I
don't really want to join the massive crowd at the moment. Although, I am
selling my accessories online, doing custom orders, and working on a print
project with some friends in our spare time. So I suppose to actually answer
this question I hope to learn from my current job as much as possible, stay as
long as I can (as long as they will let me!), and hopefully start my own label
and also begin a label I started with my friend called Cynthia Branford!!! I
hope it isn't asking too much! They all boil down to creating sustainable
clothes in the end.
Krystle: What
should we expect from you in the future? More cats, different animals, or
something entirely different?
Brandy: In the
future I would say it will definitely be a lot more cats but with guest
appearances of other animals and ideally plants and other objects. I love
illustrating so anything with a print all over it. Also, I'd like to design
more practical clothes. I have a dream of designing the perfect 100% water
proof rain coat so that is something you will see in the future as I am so
determined to make it! What would you like to see?! =^ . ^=
Photo Credit: Hannah Slaney
Find more cats here: Brandy Nicole Easter
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