Continuing our support of the bright young things of fashion, this year we’ve teamed up with Frankie magazine to support the LMFF Metamorphosis Student Showcase.  We caught up with the amazingly talented finalists as they get set to hit the catwalk.

For 23-year-old NSW designer Alyssa, inspiration for her LMFF collection came from the unlikeliest of places - human hair. With a strong artistic and conceptual background, Alyssa's designs channel a new gothic vibe in a monochrome palette.

SG: Hi Alyssa - tell us about yourself!

I have a cert IV Fashion design and Industry Practices and B. Fashion Design from UTS. I love all things creative and thought provoking. I have always loved and appreciated aesthetics and the construction of an image or a garment, the ability of fashion and clothing to transform the body into something other. I have also been featured in an art exhibition held at the John Paynter Gallery Hunter Street Newcastle NSW in which my garments and artworks have been sold.

I am inspired by complex concepts, contrasting themes, a simple photograph to, in this case, an artwork weaved from human hair.  I love good music, good design and good times. I like fashion to be an original and potent experience.

SG: How would you describe your collection for the LMFF Metamorphosis Stuent Showcase?

Interrupt! is an artistic expression of progressive fashion design that attempts to interrupt our conventional perceptions about femininity, the body and dress. The use of masking the face creates a focus on the body and renders it apart from fashion into the realm of aesthetics and artwork. Using ‘grotesque’ fabrications such as hair, a fibre which has such strong oppositional connotations, Interrupt! creates a complex and interesting aesthetic. On the body hair can be beautiful, off the body hair becomes something that is grotesque even horrific. The ability of an aesthetic to both appeal and repel inspired me to create interesting and complex design possibilities. The silk prints of the garments are based on Victorian hair weaving artworks and photographs of synthetic hair suspended in water were created and manipulated into workable textile print designs. I played with gradation of colour and an underlying darker aesthetic to add interest and coherence to my collection. The duality of hair as a material is the basis of Interrupt!’s challenge, to use grotesque materials in a beautiful way to create sophisticated and complex garments. Interrupt! attempts to open fashion to the possibilities of body representation. It plays with the notion of competing aesthetics, the grotesque and the beautiful, and the tension that this creates.

SG: How would your descrie your style?

My style is a mix of modern gothic and conceptual fashion design. Style I admire is artistic and avant-garde.

SG:  How does it feel to be showing at the LMFF next to some of Australia's leading designers?

I am so excited to be a part of LMFF! This opportunity provides me with amazing exposure and a platform from student to designer.

SG:  What is the inspiration behind the collection?
I was and am inspired by the tension between the grotesque and the beautiful. In my collection I was inspired by hair, something potentially hideous rendering it into beautiful prints and surface textures.

SG: When did everything come into place with the collection?

In regards to this collection it was more of a slow process and struggle. Felt that i never was sure of the strength of what I was doing/designing I was too amongst it. There were a few moments of - I’m onto something here - and it changes the course of your design process like developing my textiles prints happened in about ten minutes.

SG: Who, or what, is your biggest inspiration?

My biggest inspiration is designers that have integrity and complexity in what they do. Maison Martin Margiela, Comme Des Garcons and Alexander Mcqueen for a bit of fantasy. I draw inspiration from anything and everything around me.

SG: Who is the ideal person to wear your designs?

Someone who has a dark side. 

SG:  Where to from here?

Studying my Masters at UTS and hoping to continue my study overseas in London or Belgium.

www.alyssachoat.com