Creative GradFest21: Creating fashion for post-Covid exploring

Fashion Design student Celina Smith has created a graduate collection for the eco-conscious explorer, based on the concept of only using what we need. As part of Creative GradFest21, 24-year-old Celina, who is originally from Staffordshire and now lives in Carmarthen, tells us about her time at USW.

Why did you choose USW?

I heard about USW from a family friend, after my experience at another uni didn’t go so well. I had lived and worked in Wales for a year and had fallen in love with the place. This made my decision to study at USW very simple, as the new Fashion department had just been built and I’d had a brilliant first impression at the Open Day. The size of the campus and class sizes were a big thing for me; I wanted to ensure I had the best possible chance of support and be able to use the facilities they had to offer. Plus, the friendly welcome from staff made me feel as if this was where my university experience was meant to be.

Have you always wanted to be a fashion designer?

No – funnily enough, I studied Health Sciences at college before choosing to study fashion. My original plan was to become a paediatric nurse, but I realised very quickly that I was not excited or passionate about it as I once was, and quit within the first month. At that point I felt completely lost and it was my older sister that suggested fashion to me. Being 16, I did not even consider fashion as a ‘real’ job but, it wasn’t until I spoke to the head of fashion at my local college that she opened my eyes to the creative world. I have always loved to draw and create, so it made perfect sense for me to choose that route – and the bonus of being able to learn to make my own clothes.

How has your experience at USW helped prepare you for the industry?

My experience at USW has been fun, stressful, and inspiring all at the same time, but it has helped me prepare for the industry in so many ways. I was given some amazing opportunities to build my knowledge and experience that I truly believe have helped me become the creative I am today. I’ve been lucky enough to have worked with BBC Three, making costumes, have been interviewed by ITV Wales for a sustainability segment and have even designed the USW Futsal football team kit. This is an experience that I would not have had without USW, which I believe makes me more employable once I graduate. My lecturers and tutors have also prepared me for the industry as they give you such an honest insight – the good and the bad – and they often see your potential before you do, which has certainly pushed me out of my comfort zone. I will forever be grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given.

What inspired your graduate collection?

My graduate collection is about our desire to explore again, post-Covid. The pandemic has made us all realise that freedom and being outdoors is a luxury. Spending my lockdown surrounded by rural landscapes and reminiscing back to memories of camping pursuits as a child, I decided to explore the concept of the need to ‘bring the essentials’ and consideration of practicality when exploring. The idea of ‘only take what you need’ is a very different mindset to the way we buy clothes.

I was inspired to think of my own economical footprint, and creating a digital collection was the way forward to not add to existing waste of the industry. The core of my collection is driven by sustainability and functionality. I spent time researching seasonless trends and a new-found desire for comfort and the outdoors. I wanted to create luxury outerwear to encourage a new kind of conscious explorer, offering a sense of luxury and longevity to allow pieces to be worn and passed down for years to come.

One of the biggest challenges for me has to be doing my final year and graduate collection entirely from home, which was physically and mentally difficult. Learning to adapt to a new way of working and communicating your ideas over a screen is complicated, because as a fashion student everything is so physical and hands-on, and I work so much better in a collaborative space where I bounce off other people. So, not having that aspect of the course was different, but it encouraged me to explore the future possibilities of digital fashion and gave me the skills I need in my current freelance work, so I have benefited from this experience in many ways.

Favourite part of the course?

It has to be creating my final collection, though if you had told me in my first year that my final collection would be fully digital, I don’t think I would have believed it. Creating it allowed me to take everything I had learnt from class and industry and show who I am as a fashion creative. It’s the part of the course everyone is working so hard for and it’s the one project you spend the most time on. It gave me a real sense of what I can achieve if I worked hard enough for it, and gave me a clearer insight into what having a small fashion business would be like and the sheer amount of research, testing and designing that goes into one collection. It is hard work, but that doesn’t put me off for the future as it gave me a real sense of accomplishment.

What are your hopes and plans for the future? 

For now, I am focusing on experimenting with the world of freelance and working with independent brands, helping their ideas come to life while building my own network, knowledge, and place within the industry. For the future, I would love to work for an exciting innovative brand that will allow me to grow and develop with them. I would also like to explore working in TV, behind the scenes which could be fun. However, starting a business of my own one day has always been a goal of mine, so watch this space.