Kirsty Ward

If you checked out my post on David Longshaw you are bound to have noticed the lovely jewellery teamed with his collection. They are by the talented designer Kirsty Ward.Kirsty received her MA in womenswear in 2008 from Central St Martins. After showing her MA collection on the London Fashion Week catwalk she was snapped up by Alberta Ferretti to design for her in Italy. She worked there for a year and a half, then returned to England and did freelance Womenswear/Jewellery design for a variety of companies.
I really like her work with David Longshaw's collection so I got in contact with Kirsty and popped a few questions about her inspiration.What was the inspiration for your collection (the one teamed with David Longshaw)
Did you work together or did the two ideas start separately then come together?
The inspiration for my jewellery collection in collaboration with David, initially started with his prints and beautiful hand drawn illustrations. As his clothing is rather feminine - this somehow led to brass plumbing parts being used to toughen it up, then crystals, silks and glass beads were thrown into the mix to bring back the femininity again.

We discussed jewellery ideas at the start of the collection, after David had shown me his initial design doodles and sketches. When the colour palette was decided this then led to me hunting and gathering materials to use, I then set about designing and making the collection (I cannot draw to save my life, I usually start working in 3D as this is the best way to communicate my ideas)
Your MA clothing collection is really interesting - what was the inspiration for that?
The inspiration behind my MA collection was; skin heads, distortion, hans Bellmer's 'La Poupee', cheap vs expensive, masculine vs feminine. This led to a collection of original shaped sheer garments heavily bound with boning inserts added in various places to add interesting shape, the skinhead inspiration led to lots of shirts and masculine tailoring being thrown into the mix to make the collection more rounded.Are you going to make another clothing collection?
This coming season (S/S 2011) I am working on my debut clothing and jewellery collection under my own name, I will be exhibiting with Vauxhall Fashion Scout at the Freemasons hall in Covent Garden this London Fashion week.

Any clues for your next jewellery collection?
For my next jewellery collection I have been working on a technique I first discovered when designing my ITS#9 collection (where I was selected as one of the finalists, it was judged by Viktor and Rolf in Trieste, Italy) I will be developing this technique and mixing it with a variety of bells, crystals, tinsel and a 'bad taste' colour palette. The jewellery techniques I am using are also being brought into and applied onto some of the clothing 'blurring' traditional garments and jewellery.

For my next jewellery collection with 'La Longshaw' I will give you a hint, it involves: ruffles, feathers, semi precious stones and hardware. - I have to say both these sound really exciting!!!

How would you describe your own personal aesthetic?
My personal aesthetic; with garments I like to have a mix of masculine vs feminine, I like to mix traditional shapes with some experimental pattern cutting, and I also like a nice 'man' trouser, but I do like a bit of sparkle too. With jewellery I don't really have a particular method or technique - as long as its on the large side I'm happy!I have to say Kirsty was an absolute delight to speak to! I hope you enjoy her work as much as I do!! And I will be keeping my eyes open to what she does next!

Speak Soon
Fashion Fantasist xxx