“When I visited Granada,” she tells us, “I saw a large number of plane trees, blowing and flipping between the air and the sun, creating beautiful geometric shapes of shadow, light and music.” Susan explains that her collection was inspired by the movement she saw between the leaves, caused by the warm Spanish wind. Her BA Collection, ‘AiR_fLiP’ replicates the relationship that nature has with people; and the way landscapes, plants and the human body have similarities, found in the simplicity of geometric shapes.
Susan uses chiffon to emphasize the movements caused by nature, as the lightweight material drifts down the runway. Acrylic panels dance around the body, suspended on the ends of wires draped with chiffon to attenuate their movement. “The structured garments are light enough to orbit around the body, yet strong enough to hold the linked garment attached to the wire point,” she explains, exhibiting her mastered skill. However, she insists that her CSM tutors have encouraged her to explore different styles and change from one to another instead of settling for a ‘way’. This poses the question: ‘What makes a good designer?’ Is it someone who is talented in all different and unusual stylistic expressions, or one who is recognized for their own style and produces work of a similar nature? Do you need to have a ‘style’ to be recognised?