Former apprentice of Gareth Pugh and loved by Roisin Murphy amongst others, designer Gemma Slack has extended the reach of her dark, sometimes eery and affecting, other times graphic and arresting, to include menswear. AW10 marks her first foray, a small yet strong collection with a distinctly vampiric bent. Here’s to many more HOPEFULLY!
Below, you’ll find a couple Q&A’S conducted with Miss Gemma Slack…
There seems to be an androgynous, semi-military vibe going through the collection. What inspired your menswear looks?
The whole collection, womenswear included, was inspired by themes within Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The idea of being suspended between two states of being and realities. The masculine vs. the feminine, the dichotomy of the Victorian world and reality – the blurring of lines.
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Did you find the process of designing menswear was simply a matter of translating your usual design process to the male form or did it prove more complex than that?
Whatever project I’m working on, I generally start with the ideas and concepts, be it menswear womenswear or sculpture. Then, I allow the ideas to evolve. It’s only in the later stages that the final ‘product’ is realised. So, in one sense I was translating my usual process, however, when I began the development there was a lot of consideration of the male form and certain new aspects were a welcome challenge.
You interned most notably for Gareth Pugh, would you say the time you spent there was formative in terms of your own aesthetic?
Working with Gareth had, of course, an influence on my own work – he’s a great designer. In terms of aesthetic, I learnt a lot whilst I was working there which does translate into my own work, but the reason I went to work for him was because of a similar vision. I think my work has evolved in a different direction since then, and that we’re both now striving for different aesthetics.
