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Royal College of Art MA Textile graduate Kitty Joseph has collaborated with vodka brand Absolut on an exclusive capsule collection around the theme of Originality in honour of the launch of a new limited edition bottle launching October 1. For this collaboration with Absolut Originality, Kitty also worked on a short fashion film directed by Rohan WadhamBreakthrough and starring US artist Njena Redd Foxx, who also features in the collection images.
Glass sat down with Kitty Joseph to learn more about this collaboration and to get her view on the links between fashion, music and film.
What inspired you to create this capsule collection for Absolut?
The collection revolves around the blue that Absolut has used since the brand’s beginning. It is a pure rich cobalt and I used this as the basis of all three looks. I always begin with print and colour, so this blue felt like a natural starting point. I wanted the print to reflect the mark of an organic unrepeatable process, as the magic of the Originality bottles lies in the manufacture.
Cobalt pigments are dripped into the molten glass of each bottle on the production line and freely take their own path to the base so that every bottle has is own unique blue fingerprint. I find this a fascinating approach to apply to mass production. I translated this journey of the cobalt drop into the neck of the bottle to the base with three looks: Drop, Flow and Settle.
You utilised a unique process to make the print for your designs. What did this involve?
I love the idea of the fleeting moment of the pigment down the bottle being recorded in the cooling molten glass. This idea of recording a transient action in something graphic and permanent is so in tune with calligraphy. I wanted to apply this idea to the print techniques and used a dye sublimation process which involved hand painting cobalt inks onto paper to the scale of the body and then using a heat process to transfer these marks onto my fabrics.
The sweeping brush marks have delicious imperfections: an incidental splash of pigment, watery diffusions of brush marks the dry scratchy quality of an unloaded brush at the end of a stroke.
You have a longstanding interest in textile technology. How do you try to balance old and new techniques in your design aesthetic? What advantages do you think new technologies offer fashion?
I think it is so important to embrace new technologies, but not use them for their own sake. I am attracted to new fabrics and technologies if they can express an idea that another material or process cannot. However I think it is important to treat new materials as you would old and not to elevate them to a level which means that they overpower your own designs. For example I love to work with performance and smart fabrics , but I don’t take my designs down a futuristic or sci-fi route! I love the contrast of applying prints with a human touch and imperfections to fabrics such as spacer and neoprene.
Your collection for Absolut Originality is featured in a short film directed by Rohan Wadham. What was it like to create this film, particularly working with a versatile artist like Njena Reddd Foxxx?
I always enoy working with film as I feel this is a format in which you can create a whole vision. Music, model, set and visuals and time can be orchestrated in a way that is not possible in other mediums. It was fantastic working with Rohan as we have collaborated in the past and are very in tune with each others ideas and style. Njena was like the magic ingredient of the project! She seemed to unite the spirit of the Originality project: with her incredible writing/vocal talent and unique perspective she seemed to draw everything together.
You have done an impressive number of collaborations for a young designer, including working with designers and celebrities from Zandra Rhodes to Lady Gaga. What were the highlights of these experiences for you? Were you nervous to work with celebrities?
I like to work with different creative people and I try to approach each project with a similar mindset. Of course it’s very exciting to work with big names and at times it can be intimidating, but you have to cast aside these feelings in order to do a good job. People are people, and I think that anyone, no matter their influence, is relieved to be treated with a certain equality. I also just love working on special projects as it takes me outside of my studio and mainline for some creative air!
What characterises your ideal customer to design for?
As my work is all about colour and print I think that it has broad appeal. I don’t have a specific ‘woman’ in mind when I design and I think that the range of shapes and fabrications in my collections appeal to different generations. I love meeting with my various buyers as they sell to totally different customers from different parts of the world and I’m always fascinated to see which items they pick up and put together. It’s like the circle is complete when the garments are taken out of my hands and worn by all of these women. This is why I get so excited when I see people putting up pictures of themselves online!
What do you think about the relationship between fashion and other arts like dance, film and music?
The more I work with other creatives in other fields, I discover greater crossovers. I think music and fashion are entwined in a fast paced mission to create something poignant and of the moment. Dance is something that responds to music and culture, and even the way that clothes are made can effect the way a style of dance develops. These things are so entwined, but there is no easy formula to predict the way that creative culture develops. I just think its so exciting that there is dialogue between these fields, as I think that it is through collaboration that really special things can happen!
 by Jessica Quillin