This year, at the DONT WALK fashion show, mermaid-like figures floated down the runway in the designs of Hannah Emily. Hannah is a 23-year-old fashion designer living in Nottingham, England. Last year, she graduated from the University of Leeds with a BA in fashion design. Now, she finds herself on the shores of St Andrews, with her work featured in one of the town’s most renowned fashion shows.
When I spoke with Hannah, she told me that her aptitude for design was unveiled at 5 years old. “I used to sit and sew buttons on scrap fabric and make dresses for my dolls. Then, at age 10, I got my first sewing machine and that’s when I started making clothes. From there, I figured out early on that this is what I always wanted to do! My nanny was also a seamstress so I believe it was always in my blood!”
DONT WALK is a student-run charity fashion show. It was founded in the aftermath of 9/11, and its aim is activism through art. This year, it supported Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organisation, and Peaceful Tomorrows, which advocates for peace across the world.
Every year the show has a different theme, and this year centered around mythology. One myth which featured prominently was ‘The Odyssey’, reinterpreted by DONT WALK as ‘Urban Odyssey’. ‘The Odyssey’ is an epic poem by Homer, and it follows the heroic figure of Odysseus on his maritime journey returning home from the Trojan War. The story is timeless. It is a tale of suffering and perseverance. Reimagining it in a modern, urban context can help us to navigate our world today.
I asked Hannah how she interpreted this. “Urban Odyssey to me is all about sirens, the ocean and movement. I looked at the abstract shapes and different colours the ocean makes; I focused on how sea foam looks and moves and explored the concept of mermaids and how this could be interpreted into modern fashion.” And what better place to showcase this than the coastal town of St Andrews!
With these ideas flowing through her mind, Hannah began designing. She explained that “I’ve always struggled to design conventionally and logically, as my mind just doesn’t work like that. At University, we were taught to make mood boards and then draw our designs from them and make a couple of iterations but it never worked for me. Instead, I collect lots of photos of my theme and then my mind puts the piece together and starts designing… it’s just so vivid! I can see everything, the fabrics, the placement, the silhouette, just everything! It’s like having a realistic 3D model in my mind of what the final piece will look like. From there, I just start draping fabric on the stand and pinning. Apart from my trousers, four-person dress and the bodysuits under some pieces, I didn’t pattern cut anything for the DONT WALK collection. Everything I make is through draping and pinning as it just makes more sense to me. I can build the pieces as I see them in my mind and then let the fabric lay and create interesting shapes.”
However, the process was not always smooth-sailing. Hannah admitted that the biggest challenge she encountered was designing her mermaid dress. “I dreamt of a mermaid tail as a head piece and then building the tail down the body. I had never worked on anything structural before, so it was a real challenge trialling things, watching it fail from being too heavy or too weak and then remaking it over and over until one day it worked. Although we had the dress walk upside down (health and safety) it was so satisfying seeing it complete on the runway after so many failed attempts.” Thus, you could say, like Odysseus, Hannah too persevered in her design journey.
She revealed her favourite piece was “Definitely my angel dress! The piece took around six weeks of constant work as there were so many details to it. The bodice is made up of appliqué flowers which each needed sewing on. The wings themselves… [required] pleating which [originally] went wrong. I’m just so happy with how it looks and seeing the dress on Helen (one of the models) made my heart so happy, she looked like a real-life angel!”
DONT WALK advocates “taking action through artistic expression”. I asked Hannah whether she thought that fashion could be political. “Of course, fashion is all about creativity which encourages opinions. Debates and opinions can be used to open up so many beautiful conversations and many challenging ones as well.”
Today, with climate change a more pressing concern, one of the challenges facing the fashion industry is sustainability. I asked Hannah whether she felt that change in the industry was needed. “The fashion industry is always changing, sometimes positive and other times not so much. I wish sustainable fashion was normalised and not just a small collection that brands promote. There’s so many new designers emerging now who prioritise sustainable fashion so I believe we’re moving towards the right idea.” She suggested that “challenging clothing trends and only buying what you really love and leaving the ones that you don’t” may help us to be more mindful about fashion on an everyday basis.
A lot more people are getting into fashion design. Even in small ways, like knitting and embroidery. Hannah’s advice to anyone who is starting their own design journey is to “Have fun! Fashion design is just so fun! There’s no right or wrong way to design and make and the imperfections that come with mistakes always end up creating the most unique pieces.”
Post-DONT WALK, Hannah will be launching her own label under the brand ‘Hannah Emily’. “The reception to my collection has been incredible and so overwhelming, I feel so fortunate that so many people like what I do! I’m looking at selling copies of the pieces from the DONT WALK runway along with some new pieces inspired by the collection which will be so fun!” If you are curious, then make sure to keep up-to-date with Hannah on her Instagram, @hannahxfashionx.