Interview: Five Minutes With LFW Designer Holly Fulton
Holly Fulton was one of the first fashion designers I met, we chatted randomly at the London Fashion Week exhibition, I had no idea at the time that she was the designer behind the amazing collection I was raving about. Luckily she didn’t hold that fan-girl moment against me as I interviewed her at the Fashion House of Echo Falls to celebrate her collaboration with the wine brand. It was refreshing to see a down-to-earth fashion designer, she really was lovely and fun to interview.
I didn’t have long, but we chatted designing a wine bottle, I really love the Rose one, her love of architecture, the excitement of fashion week, and I couldn’t resist asking her what a Holly Fulton Barbie would look like, it is amazing and fingers crossed Mattel reads this and signs her up!!!
What was it like designing a wine collection?
Holly: “As a designer I love to do things that are outside the realm of fashion, it is quite exciting for myself to see my designs transposed onto different products. The starting point was to capture the best of what Echo Falls does and their wines with the best of Holly Fulton, so we selected three different outfits that reflected the characters of the Merlot, the white and the rose and hopefully captured the contemporary spirit of Holly Fulton. We wanted to design something that popped out on the shelf next to Echo Falls competitors as well as a sexy feel.”
Your collections are highly influenced by architecture – what is it about architecture that inspires you?
“I love things that are quite clean, strong and quite graphic, a lot of the 20s/30s architecture and skyscrapers, and even 60s/70s buildings really just catch my eye and feed into my style of drawing and graphic sensibility. I love anything that is really bold and architecture is one of the biggest, boldest statements you can get in design, so it has always been a source of inspiration to me.”
Do you have a favourite building/city?
“I’m a bit of a fan of the Empire State building, I did have a collection where it featured quite heavily for spring/summer time and we used it in our crystal work.”
LFW is fast approaching – how is everything going in the run up to your SS15 show?
“It’s exciting and terrifying, but I always try and remain calm, because if I am panicking it wouldn’t help anybody. I am quite a workaholic so I will be working incredible long hours from now until then, but that’s part of the fun of it, still even five years on from when I started the label it hasn’t lost any of its excitement for me, it is still like the day that I graduated, it is that kind of buzz that I get. My favourite moment is just before the show goes and I see the girls lined up, all made up and transformed; in that moment my adrenalin is literally popping.”
Is the music important for your catwalk shows?
“Hugely important, I will listen to those tracks time and time again in the run up to LFW, I make everyone listen to it, we will listen to the song 30 times a day, but it is really good as everyone gets really into it. If you can get the music right you are really lucky, we work with John Drury who does all the music for our shows and it is always one of the most exciting parts of a show as it really captures the mood and enhances the space.
Can you give us a hint at what we can expect from the SS15 collection?
Very different from autumn/winter 2014. We always use different techniques and styles, and we are focusing on techniques that we have never looked at before, so I am excited to see how they come out. I think this collection will be a move on for us, the cutting is quite different so the silhouettes will create a new look for us.”
Finally, if you could have a Holly Fulton Barbie – what would you dress her in?
“My favourite outfit would have to be the first look from spring/summer 2010, that collection that I just felt like my style just totally came together. That first look was all black and white, which is still a signature for us, I even still wear that coat.
“It would be a strong Barbie, but I think she would definitely have to go brunette and represent us dark-haired ladies. Plus she would have to have all the matching accessories, of course, the statement necklace, big earrings, possible a vintage ring and she has to wear the spiked Christian Louboutin baseball boots that were on the catwalk.”
Holly Fulton’s amazing Echo Falls wine collection is available in stores now, price £6.99 each.
