Driven by a strong sense of curiosity and an internal desire to continuously create and develop ideas, Davina found herself drawn to experimenting with fashion from a young age. Before her days at London-based fashion college Ravensbourne, she’d keep busy playing with Barbie dolls — a habit she carried on until recently, albeit not in the expected way. “Throughout the years of growing and studying I would heat press Barbie doll bodies, hair and plastic bags to produce interesting textures and forms,” Davina tells me. “It has led me to become a hands-on designer who loves to create samples and textured pieces using mixed media.”
Davina Amajor on multi-functional garments and overlooked materials
With her BA collection ‘90 Degrees’, Davina set out to recover the functionality and aesthetic value of worn fabrics that were once undesired, in order to prevent them from being disposed of
Her passion for experiment and spontaneous creative process formed a base for her last collection titled ‘90 Degrees’. Exploring the constructs of men’s fashion, Davina expressed her ideas through garments balancing the line between tailoring and functionalism, forming a hybrid between the two. Finding inspiration in the angular shapes seen in tent frames, she started her design process through extracting shapes, forms and lines, enlarging these and seeing the outcome of it on the body. By taking photographs, followed by a manual process of drawing over them, cutting, pasting, and scanning, Davina looked for possible outlines of silhouettes. “Operating like this enables me to take risks and have fun in creating. It removes the sense of ‘white page fear’. Once I have found an interesting silhouette in these enlarged shapes, a range of new ideas opens up to develop my work. From that stage on, I will try and refine in order to make the outcome as functional as possible.”
“I want to show the industry my ability to produce innovative ideas from overlooked materials, as tarpaulin is really only considered as a shelter for market stalls.”
The variety of media Davina likes to explore ranges from hand embroidery, embossing, patch-working and origami-style fabric manipulation to screen printing, digital printing and heat-pressing. Through conducting extensive experimentation on how to (re)work fabrics, Davina’s collection aims to both reshape and revive materials otherwise overlooked. “By primarily using tarpaulin, I set out to find different ways of using mundane items, giving them new purpose and making them desirable in the fashion industry. Naming the collection ‘90 Degrees’, I started the process through small right-angled shapes and slowly transitioned into larger geometric garments, each complementing the tarpaulin’s functionality in a different way. I want to show the industry my ability to produce innovative ideas from overlooked materials, as tarpaulin is really only considered as a shelter for market stalls,” Davina states. Angular and asymmetric, the collection embodies a combined vision of functionality and innovation.
During her last year at university, Davina participated in ‘Rave Digital’, a cutting-edge digital design project and a collaboration between the Fashion and Gaming departments at Ravensbourne. As a result of this partnership she learned how to work with fashion-specific 3D software Marvelous Designer, recreating her collection’s looks in order to digitally show her final project. “This visionary plan addressed the idea of sustainable development in fashion through education in digital media,” Davina says, “and it was further profiled in Forbes magazine.”
In line with her enthusiasm towards computer-based design programmes, Davina believes that in this moment in time, digitalisation will force the fashion industry to be more considerate of the manufacturing stage. “The current way of working has reached its limits,” she states. Expressing a general need to slow down, to reconsider, and to re-educate, Davina hopes for the system to grow and adapt to the new digital age. Like many other young designers, she also wishes to see an increase of kindness, sustaining the human aspect of the system, respecting those who work in the industry – rather than exploiting and overworking employees, promoting stress rather than trust and creativity.
“It is evident that the pandemic has heavily impacted the fashion industry,” says Davina, “and now we have to evolve quickly to embrace the changes.”
“It is evident that the pandemic has heavily impacted the fashion industry,” says Davina, “and now we have to evolve quickly to embrace the changes. I personally didn’t feel restricted by the stay-at-home rules, instead it has pushed me to further develop my own individual work, giving me the time and space to learn new skills, trying to find a voice within the new digital generation.” Finding herself on the blank page of possibilities between fashion studies and the fashion system, Davina keeps challenging herself, pushing herself out of the comfort zone. Reflecting on her time at university, she kindly states an opinion: “My advice for the next generation of students is for them to not be afraid of making mistakes, to embrace every step of their journey. Also, to accept, identify and confront their weaknesses. It may not be easy, but it is essential in order to learn and improve.”
“I hope to focus on purpose and functionality, to create clothing while limiting the amount of material waste, inspiring the next generation.”
With the upcycling techniques she explored at school, Davina tells me that in the future she would like to further develop her ideas. Her plan is to work within the secondary sector of the fashion industry, taking out-of-demand raw materials from the primary and converting them into new garments through innovative design and manufacturing. “I hope to focus on purpose and functionality, to create clothing while limiting the amount of material waste, inspiring the next generation.”
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