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| Home Page: The ARTedUK Interviews > Aimee McWilliams |
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The ARTedUK
Interviews
Aimee McWilliams
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in conversation with ARTedUK's Imogen Bosence
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photograph: Ellen James
 I decided to take a job with a guy who was about 3 or 4 seasons into his own business. I made the decision to go with a small company based in the UK, so I could get very hands-on experience
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I meet Aimee McWilliams at her studio in Shoreditch, London. She greets me at the door and I am immediately struck by her extraordinary appearance. She is tiny, with waist length black hair and incredibly white skin. She is wearing a beautiful black velvet skirt, which I presume to be one of her own creations, and lots of large pieces of jewellery. She looks like a slightly gothic, slightly Victorian, incredibly glamorous fairy. We sit at a low table between two large racks of polythene-covered garments, and (strangely) a pistachio coloured Vespa scooter, she tells me belongs to her boyfriend.
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So, let's start at the beginning
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I was born in Hammersmith, but have two Glaswegian parents so I was basically in Scotland all the way through growing up. Then it was St Martins for Foundation, and at St Martins for my BA in Fashion Design Womenswear. I then graduated in 2003.
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You graduated and things just exploded for you, is that right?
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Yes, it started with my Degree Show. I won the L’Oreal ‘Total Look Award’ that year. Then lots of people were beginning to keep their eye on me as someone who had got the award; people interviewing for jobs and lots of magazines wanting to do interviews and buy things from the Graduate collection for shoots. I decided to take a job with a guy who was about 3 or 4 seasons into his own business. I made the decision to go with a small company based in the UK, so I could get very hands-on experience. Even if it was a very new and developing company, who might not know how to do everything flawlessly yet, it was more responsibility than if I had chosen to go to a big house. I was only with him over the summer, and then I started doing my own thing at the end of that same year.
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It sounds like your career got going quite quickly.
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Yes, I suppose it did. It was on a very small scale for the first two years, making work and getting it to the magazines, introducing myself to the BFC [the British Fashion Council]. Producing a collection and then presenting it, doing all the meeting and greeting is a massive thing to spend time on at first. Then eventually I was awarded my first show at the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly. That was a much bigger voice suddenly, because a huge number of people could all come and see something all at once, and what an amazing venue to have your first show at? Then it just kept going from there really.
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It's a real sucess story. Tell me about recent developments.
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The past two years of my life have been a really interesting development. I now work more as a consultant. Although I still do my own range, I stopped doing catwalk shows. The business side of my brain was taking over the creative side, and that was breaking my heart. There is a point when you’re under huge pressure, as a younger designer, or as an independent designer trying to create a brand, to produce on a mass scale that competes with the bigger companies. It’s just ridiculous, but that pressure is there for most of us. You’re working round the clock to try and keep up with it, and I don’t believe that is always necessary. I look at my now work and it’s almost like looking at my child, whereas I wasn’t before. I was seeing it as products, churning stuff out. Now I feel very precious about it all.
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When you started your Foundation at St Martins did you know that fashion was what you wanted to do?
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Oh yes, definitely. I had targeted that Foundation year in order to get onto that BA.
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What were your early influences? Where were you creatively before your Foundation year?
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To be an amazing designer, there has to be a signature, there has to be something that people want to buy into. I could sense that growing in me
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When I was a little girl, I was obsessed with drawing - I could literally draw all day. It was always figurative, so I could never sit there and draw a still life, or my bicycle, or whatever little girls draw. It was always about the body. I had a really graphic aesthetic and everything was quick, speedy - something you’d associate with a fashion designer, rather than lets say, a fine artist or a sculptor. At school, if everyone’s drawing was put up on the wall, everybody could always point to my work. It wasn’t necessarily because it was particularly good, it was that no matter what I was drawing it always looked like an ‘Aimee’. That was the reason I knew that fashion was the way I would be going. To be an amazing designer, there has to be a signature, there has to be something that people want to buy into. I could sense that growing in me,
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Where do your designs come from?
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They come from an innate understanding of ‘self’. I think that when you know yourself really well, you start to become really honest and admit what you are attracted to in life. By doing that, your research for designs becomes a really honest and sincere version of you. All your research is just an input, and if you stay really honest to that, and true to yourself, your brain digests it and gives an output that is even more ‘you’. So yeah, going back to my original statement, it is all just about understanding ‘self’.
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How much do you feel that you are influenced by your surroundings, for example being in London?
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I can’t think of another city in the world that you get so many different nationalities sharing the same lecture theatre, or wherever. That is a privilege
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Hugely. I think you will always be influenced by your surroundings, no matter where you live and no matter who you are. I think it was more poignant when I was in the study mode, the investigative mode. The 4 years at St Martins when I was trying to find out who I am, what I am about, it was very important at that point to be here. London has an open-mindedness. There’s a multi-cultural lifestyle here that is unique. I can’t think of another city in the world that you get so many different nationalities sharing the same lecture theatre, or wherever. That is a privilege.
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You are very much heralded as a ‘Young British Talent' of the ‘Next big thing to be emerging from Britain'. Is this emphasis on Britishness something that is important to you, or do you feel it is projected onto you by other people?
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I find it quite hard to analyse this one, because when I think about the products that I make, they are quite luxury items. I work quite lot in fur and leathers, and I quite often associate this with Italian fashion. I aspire, one day, to creatively direct somewhere like Fendi. It is kind of strange, because I associate the materials I use with Paris or Milan. But I guess there is a Britishness to me, there is a ‘Londonness’ especially, and I think this always comes through in the design. I find it hard to explain what that is though. I don’t mean to be ‘British’, I guess that’s the honest thing coming out again.
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So what's in your sketchbook at the moment?
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Sometimes in my sketchbook there will just be writing about how something made me feel, and it reminds me to keep a certain atmosphere to a collection
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I’m looking at a real mixture of things. I’m loving this film called Harold and Maud, it’s from 1971. It’s about a 79 year old woman and a 17-year-old boy, who fall in love. Sounds a bit dodgy, but it’s actually really beautiful. He is very bizarre, slightly morbid, and is fighting his upbringing. She’s this kind of fruit-bat, who just doesn’t care and is completely free. Somehow they teach each other something wonderful. It’s the sentiment of these things that get me. Sometimes in my sketchbook there will just be writing about how something made me feel, and it reminds me to keep a certain atmosphere to a collection. So it won’t actually be any visual references, it will just be ‘god that was a beautiful feeling when I watched that film’. So yeah, that’s one of the aspects at the moment.
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I've read that you really like taking photos. Is that something you still do a lot?
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There is something about looking at a photographic image as something of polish and finesse, that isn’t always there in a day-to-day life working as a designer in a studio
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I need to work with photographers all the time. If I don’t do it frequently, I feel really dulled. There is something about looking at a photographic image as something of polish and finesse, that isn’t always there in a day-to-day life working as a designer in a studio. A studio is messy, it can get chaotic. It can get like you have to hold onto the quality that you know is there. Working with photographers, I always have a polished piece of work to digest. So that might be shooting my own work, or sometimes I’ll just do a test shoot, playing with clothes, looking at colours and fabrics and shapes. If I’m doing photography by myself, it will probably be just film-stills. I could sit in front of the TV all day, watching 5 or 6 films, taking pictures of the screen. It’s normally not because of any fashion content in the film, but because I love cinematography, and different ways you can capture light. It makes things feel like it has a technological edge, if that makes sense.
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But you know what? If the phones weren’t ringing constantly all week I’d be more upset, you know what I mean? Then you’d feel like you’re not in demand any more
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Can you describe a standard day in the life of Aimee McWilliams?
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Right, I’ll have to describe 2 days. If I’m in designing mode and making a collection, it is a completely different experience than if I’m on the promotional or the admin side of what I’m doing. So, if I’m in collection mode, I’ll be getting in earlier. First of all, because there’s so much to do and second, because I’m so excited. The majority of the day I’ll just be standing at that pattern-cutting table. Either playing with designs, re-thinking something, re-sketching something, pattern cutting. Maybe I’ll be bouncing ideas off one of the girls. There might be a factory run, or I might be having to make loads of phone calls, organising things, ordering in fabric from abroad. Maybe we’ll have a delivery of something.
Whether it is a creative day or a non-creative day I always will always be interrupted by a million and one things, so just having to multi-task all the time can sometimes be quite difficult. If I really am in a rush, I’ve got a big shoot or a show coming up, I’ll have to just block everything else out, unless there is something I absolutely have to do. You have to do that, or you just won’t get your creative work done.
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I know you said you spend more time on the creative stuff nowadays, do you still itch to do more?
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Yes, always. Always. I suppose I do have a good balance, if I’m being honest, but I do always want to do more.
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What about the non-creative days?
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If it is an admin day then, well, some days I can get sucked into emails for hours. I stand up at about 3 o’clock and realise that I haven’t even come up for air. If there is an event or a show coming up there is so much mail-out stuff to do, making sure everyone knows. I don’t necessarily do all the mail outs myself, but I do like to go through it all and make sure I’ve hand picked all the people I really want to be there, and make sure we’ve asked them in a nice way and stuff like that. Then maybe there is an interview to be done, or maybe I’ve got to go to an exhibition, make sure it’s displayed nicely and nothing is going to go wrong.
You know you asked if I’d like to be spending more time doing my design work? Yes. It is heaven when it comes to the weekend and the phones stop. It’s not Monday to Friday and I am in heaven. But you know what? If the phones weren’t ringing constantly all week I’d be more upset, you know what I mean? Then you’d feel like you’re not in demand any more.
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Tell me about your recent project, the Hotels.
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I was asked by Guoman at the end of 2007 if I’d do a couture range for them. Each outfit had to be inspired by one of their recently acquired hotels: the Royal Horseguards, the Charing Cross, the Cumberland and the Tower. Four really different hotels in London, and the reason they approached me is, by creating a collection it was their way of demonstrating to the public that these hotels sit perfectly together. Obviously as a designer I can bend my colour-way, I can change my silhouette, I can design each outfit and then blend them and wash them into each other. So the message is perfectly clear that these deserve to be in the same brand portfolio.
It was just a really beautiful project, because to create one outfit for just one hotel is… well each hotel is just so grand, so I couldn’t do something weaker for one or the other. Every single one had to be that really incredible development. Every single piece was laboured on, like the Royal Horseguards got a three-piece suit. The skirt was just so intricate, it had a belt on that was bespoke. Then there was a tailored jacket, the pattern cutting on it was really tricky to get right, and then the shirt was all embroidered. So all four were really high-end pieces. The other three outfits were all dresses with belts, but again they were all made from 50 or 60 metres of fabric, or half covered in hand-work, or delicate little hand-rolled roses that were all frayed round the edges. It was all so intricate, and was a pleasure to be able to work at that sort of level. It was also very indulgent, as a designer I could almost show off, without having to fear about this being reproduced. I could remake them, but even in the factory one of the dresses took about three weeks to make, so it would be really hard going.
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So what does the future hold? You say your dream job would be at somewhere like Fendi…
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I’m very comfortable being a British designer, young, and able to work with fur. I feel confident with my argument for it, the ethics behind it
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Well, I did go to see Fendi actually, about a month ago, which was so exciting. Quite a few meetings were arranged for me by LVMH at Louis Vuitton, Cerrutti, Loewe, Fendi, so quite a few of their major brands. Because I work more as a consultant now, carving my own identity I suppose, LVMH were interested in seeing how I might be able to work with different people. There were a couple of full-time things there that I didn’t really want. To be honest, I couldn’t possibly walk away from… well I have too bigger voice of my own. Unless it was the creative director of somewhere, I just couldn’t walk away from what I’m doing. Also while I was there I was offering consultancy work, so I guess we’ll see what happens.
I don’t know what it is, but I’ve had an instinct about Fendi since I was about 18. Someone asked me when I graduated which brand I affiliate most with, and I said Fendi. I think it is because they are the oldest fur-house in the world. So there is the fur angle, and I’m very comfortable being a British designer, young, and able to work with fur. I feel confident with my argument for it, the ethics behind it. So that is probably one major hook. Also there is something about the sophistication, the seduction that I associate with Fendi that I think is also in my own brand. So that is why I think it would be a good crossover.
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What advice would you give to someone who is considering attempting to follow a similar path to you? |
| You’ve got to completely dedicate yourself. You can’t half-heartedly go in to a career in fashion. Also, it moves so quickly, that you’ll just get left behind unless you are going at full pace |
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If you are going to study fashion, you don’t just fall into it. It is such a hard area to be in, so competitive. You’ve got to completely dedicate yourself. You can’t half-heartedly go in to a career in fashion. Also, it moves so quickly, that you’ll just get left behind unless you are going at full pace. So if you are wanting to follow a similar pathway to what I’ve done, you have to be sure it is the right one. It is tough, but it is so exciting. The toughness and the drive that everyone has on a Womenswear BA is also the adrenaline that everyone is also feeding off. I don’t want to discourage anybody by these comments, but you do really have to want to be there.
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Photograph: Ellen James
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Looking at your CV, it appears to have been a very intense experience. Since starting St Martins, you haven’t really stopped for breath. At any point, have you felt exhausted?
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Yeah! I was pretty exhausted when I finished my BA. I’d be in that building when they opened the doors at 8.30, and I wouldn’t leave until 9.00 at night, when they were literally chucking us out. Then I’d go home and sew until one in the morning. But, the past two years, when I’ve tried to re-emphasise the creativity, that has given me more breathing space. By removing some of the business pressures I have found some sort of lifestyle that makes me feel both like I’ve had enough down time and enough up time, or work time. It makes me a more rounded person, which enhances my work.
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Have you always planned ahead? |
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Oh yes, this is all fully planned.
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And has your career taken the path you were expecting? |
The industry hasn’t controlled me. I control me
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No, it is not what I was expecting, and it is not where I projected I wanted to be. I wanted to own boutiques by now, and I just thought I’d be on a bigger scale as far as production and stockists were concerned. But I’ve made the choice to pull back and it has made me feel really strong. I’m invigorated for it, empowered by the choices I’ve made. The industry hasn’t controlled me. I control me.
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