© Wimbledon Fashion Week. Mark McGough, All Rights Reserved.
In association with
srutisethuraman@hotmail.co.uk
Collection
My collection is inspired by the iconic ‘bandage dress’. The dresses experienced a resurgence in 2007 when Christopher Kane launched his line of body con dresses encompassing lace trim and boudoir ruffles. Originally founded in 1985 by Herve Leger, the dresses seamlessly form the female silhouette with signature banding construction. Azzedine Alaia, was another designer whose signature look was skin-tight, sculpted dresses, but with the arrival of nineties minimalism, all those bandage-tight cocktail dresses fell out of style until now.
My collection was created using neoprene, which is a type of synthetic rubber that is waterproof. Consisting of six dresses, the designs represent a modern vision with extraordinary colour combinations of purple and grey, black and fluorescent, vivid-orange and grey. Virtually every dress features the same body- clinging shape and same length. Elastic trims in colours such as grey, purple, black, navy and fluorescent give the designs an overall dramatic look, which is both intense and an articulated example of the Herve leger/ Alaia nineties. I was driven by lust for vivid colour with a sportswear edge. Design features also include zips that further accentuate the female silhouette.
Biography
Sruti Sethuraman (born 3 August 1987) is a designer currently based in London. Born in New Delhi, India she moved to London at the age of thirteen. While studying art at school she was dynamically influenced by the artist Rembrandt van Rijn, whose work encompasses a wide range of subject matter and technique, sometimes leaving large areas of white paper to suggest space, at other times employing complex webs of line to produce rich dark tones. This led to her developing her own style of fashion illustration using ink on paper.
Whilst finishing school at the age of 17 she applied for the Fashion Portfolio course at the London College of Fashion. During the visual component of the course she developed her own creative skills through studio and workshop practice and the principles of design, pattern cutting, and photography as well as develop critical observation skills, drawing skills, use of colour and media, principles of illustration and other skills necessary for the representation of design ideas and visual communication. After the successful completion of this course she applied for the BA Fashion Design technology – women’s wear course, which she started in 2005. It was at this time that she developed her own individual outlook on design. Taking inspiration from designers such as Herve Leger, Christopher Kane, Alexander Wang, Future Classics, and Preen, and reading vogue and taking photographs of things that inspire her, she created clothes, which were minimalistic yet effective. This has since become her trademark. By the final year of this course she understood the professional development and awareness of the fashion industry, and not only was design her way of self expression but also her way of creative thinking.
Currently she is working on her new collection and website, which should be completed by June 2009. Alongside this she will be participating in the Wimbledon Fashion Week where she will exhibit her Graduate collection. Her ultimate vision is to have a long lasting future in the fashion industry and to one day be part of the prestigious London Fashion Week.