Saturday, 6 June 2009

Sat 6th June: Dean Quinn at CSM







Ive been trying to pin Dean down since Thursday to get an interview for the blog.   Having just got his degree collection back from being marked, he invited me in to his studio at CSM for a close up inspection.  I have to say that I'm going to be so sad when the campus moves as I love spotting the students emerging for a cig decked out in their ridiculous regalia.  So i thought that it might be a special moment in time to capture it in its essence before its turned into a bouji appartment block.  

The circulating crests of bugle beads came about as a happy accident from a faulty measurement when arranging them in flat lines.  The flashes of light that reflect from this staggered surface terrain was inspired by sun shining onto skin through a blind in Bladerunner.  The fiercely spliced silhouette explained as the "Dean Shoulder" was designed by exposing and stacking shoulder pads.  Inside the jackets of his 50% hand-sewn collection, is a complex network of tape to hold each piece in place so it lies flat to the body.  
Dean's first ever foray into fashion was making a dress for his GCSE art project which was lost on his conservative highschool.  But he sought out a mentor and travelled from Ireland to intern with Zandra Rhodes in London when he was still only 16.   There he was put to work painting pattern designs and found out about applying to Central St.Martins.  Fast forward 8 years and he has just won the Womenswear Award at the press show for the BA course, presented by Mark Fast.  In fact it transpired that today is actually his birthday!  You can't ask for a much better birthday present than that!  But with the unprecedented press interest that he has received in the last 4 days, who knows what else is round the corner?   Keep your eyes peeled for these tailored treasures reappearing...........

1 comment:

Flora said...

That looks Amazing and probaly alot of hard work but you can see the quality in the pictures.