Inspired by animals - Natalie Richardson

 Natalie Rae Richardson

- Describe yourself shortly.

- Casual, low-key and a little wild

-  Why do you choose womenswear?

- I personally am more drawn to womenswear. For me, I feel like I can be more creative and experimental with craft arts with womenswear.

-  What was the first item you created?

- I use to redesign my cloths when I was teen. I would take old things and rework them into something new. I think it may have been a skirt but I can’t remember exactly. I really enjoyed it.

-  Do you have the favorite item from your collection?

- From my graduate collection I have a few but I really loved the hyena shirt, which has the grey tone embroidery, the ‘fur’ texture and layout was inspired by hyena fur, hence the name of the shirt. I just love how the embroidery and colors turned out.

- How did you first get the idea to make embroidered animal fur texture?

- When I started the collection I knew I wanted to do something relating to embroidery and animals. It was just a matter of research. The idea was really a response the mocking animal fur as opposed to using animal fur. Appreciating the beauty of animals without destroying them.

-  Where do you seek for inspiration?

- Anywhere really. Whatever strikes me at that moment. Can be people, art, books, anything really. This next collection I am working on was inspired by a piece of pottery from Mexico.

-  Do you have some special rituals before you start to create?

- I clean. I have to have an organized space before I can start working on some new especially. I am a bit of a freak about it to be honest. I will go back through organizing things in the middle of working. It helps me clear my head.

- What is your opinion about fakeness in fashion?

- That is a funny one to me because I personally don’t buy or use real leather or fur but saying that I don’t usually buy the imitation either. I have at times had imitation leather but it does vary on how its done. Brands like Stella McCartney, who doesn’t use leather, do imitation leather very well. As for fake fur, I don’t care for it. There are lots of arguments out there about how its just a lead up to real fur, which I don’t think its true. I don’t like fake fur because I think it looks tacky. Of course I feel the same way about real fur too.

In most cases the quality of all imitations of luxury items is poor and you get what you pay for. I personally think its worth investing in higher quality items because the craftsmanship and quality are hard to match and the product will last you a life time as opposed to a week. I think people just need to be more aware of what they are buying into.

-  What are the basic values for you as for designer?

- Quality over quantity is very important to me. I love the beauty and craftsmanship in high quality garments, its a very important part of my work. As well, I am very interested in the sustainable and ethical aspects of fashion and I try hard to incorporate these into my work without compromising my designs.

-  What is the biggest achievement in your career?

- Well I will admit my career is still very young so there are still many things I would like to achieve. There have been some amazing mile stones so far: being nominated for the WGSN Global Fashion Award, in Italian Vogue Graduate supplement and being on Vogue.com for One’s to Watch.

-  You are/where inspired by animals. What animal inspires you the most?

- Most animals inspire me. I think they all have there unique traits so its hard to say that one in particle inspired me more. For my collection I pulled from quiet a bit of animals, I ended up using the ones that translated best to embroidery. I pulled from such animals as: Gazelle, hyena, anteater, chicken, raven, and a fox.

-  Future plans, dream collaborations and hopes?

- At the moment I am working on my next collection which will be done in a month and then moving on to another. I am hoping to show this collection in September at London Fashion Week.

- I am also working on a collaboration with a company in Brussels, La Fortuna Studios, which is a collaboration from lots of artist on the Cult of Craft. As well I am hopefully (still in the process of setting it up) going to be working on a video with a photographer/stylist for my next collection.