I love that feeling of discovering a new label or a new designer that really excites you visually and makes you want to snap up everything that they’ve created. Samantha Kennedy Designs is one such designer. I had the pleasure of meeting this Cork based designer last week for a little chat and found that the woman behind this label did not disappoint, as well as having an outstanding creative flair she also turned out to be someone with an admirable work ethic and just an all round lovely person.
Samantha graduated with a BA Hons Degree in Fashion Design from the West Wales School of the Arts in2010 where she also won student of the year for her collection “Molly Loves Bowie”. What this small Welsh town may have lacked in wild student nights it was here that Samantha made some of her best friendships and also met her boyfriend. She also gained invaluable experience styling for magazines such as Blown and London based Caris and for Arc End Clothing Company. It is from this styling experience that she credits her design process, ” when I start any collection I can see the whole style that will go with it, I did my work experience in college in styling and when I got back here I got more into the making side so now when I design I see the whole finished look”. Having completed her degree she moved back to Cork to focus on design and showed at the 2011 Cork fashion Week with her collection “Gypsy on Tour” before moving onto accessory design. Initially this move was a commercial decision but as Samantha explains it was to prove a massively satisfying and successful move, “now that I’m doing accessories I’m glad to be doing them as they’re so fun to do and also quicker to make which is important at the moment”.
Her bracelets have proved to be very popular with Etsy shoppers and bloggers alike and these beautiful one off pieces take between two and three hours to make. Samantha makes the straps first and like her clothing designs work on the successful principal of a simple silhouette with lavish embellishment. She also makes belts, headbands and capes and would eventually love to move these headbands in the direction of the bridal market. Its easy to see how any bride would love these bespoke pieces for either herself or her bridesmaids and while she sees her designs as being more popular with fashionable, vintage interested women between 20 and 35 I could easily see her belts looking fab on an older customer adding interesting detail to perhaps a more classic outfit.
It’s clear to see that this is a label with major vintage influences and I was interested to hear that the 30′s & 40′s are Samantha’s favourite periods in time favouring their pencil skirts and daydresses but she also cites the silhoutte and music of the 1960′s as another influence as well as the 1980′s which she says was “such a costume party decade”. The beading and found objects in her bracelets also hints at a love of fairytales and childhood fantasy. With all this vintage influence it’s easy to imagine her muse and queen of the vintage dress Zooey Deschanel wearing one of her pieces. Her own favourite piece is a vintage ankle length turquoise dress with gold beading on the top from the fabulous online vintage boutique Elsa & Gogo, if you haven’t done so already I would highly recommend checking out this site by Olivia Murphy who has a marvellous eye for sourcing vintage gems. While Samantha isn’t a major follower of catwalk trends she does like the current S/S pretty princess look seen at Louis Vuitton which sees oversized bows and collars in beautiful patel shades. She counts Vivienne Westwood, Haider Ackermann, Anna Sui, Waterford based Bonzie and Ellis Boyle as inspiring modern designers whose work she greatly admires.
Another factor in her move to accessories was her online Etsy shop, like a lot of designers Samantha found it difficult to sell clothing online when trying to become an established designer and she hopes through her accessory line that she will gain all of this. With talks of a pop up shop in the future her main goal is ” a little shop in Cork city with my own designs, that’s the dream” and while she works in a pub part time at the moment she hopes that by the end of the year all going well she will be able to design full time. Samantha also keeps involved in the fashion scene in Cork and has taken part in numerous shows and vintage fashion fairs since her involvement in CFW 2011. While she may have been nervous for that first show post graduation she’s a seasoned pro at this stage and will be taking part in a Brown Thomas Charity event in the Cork store on Saturday May 5th between 1 and 5pm where she and a handful of other designers will be showing costumes made out of surgical gear such as surgical tape, gowns and masks. Her piece remains true to her aesthetics and were it not for the unusual material she assures me it could fit easily into her other collections.
Samantha was not always set for a life in the fashion industry and it wasn’t creativity alone that brought her to this stage in her career. She initially studied dance in college and it is here that she says she learnt about discipline and her hard work ethic which is so admirable. For any one considering a creative career she has this advice, ” it can be very disheartening at first, you’ve got to not only expect the hard work but put the hard work in. Keep at it, for a while I wasn’t getting any feedback but find that one thing that will get peoples attention and it’ll start happening” . Expect to hear a lot more from this designer in the near future folks!!
For more information on Samantha Kennedy Designs and to purchase her pieces please visit her Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/#!/samanthakennedydesigns.
