Jasper Garvida
He was the winner of Project Catwalk last year but what has Jasper Garvida been up to since then? We caught up with the designer to talk embellishment, Salvador Dali and Naomi Campbell.
Hi Jasper, what have you been up to recently?
At the moment I’m promoting the new collection for Oli as well as working on my own label.
Apart from winning, what was your highlight on Project Catwalk?
For me the highlight was actually seeing my parents again after the show because I hadn’t seen them for such a long time and they hadn’t really seen what I’ve been doing and for me that was the biggest highlight.
I’ve used models before from size six to size sixteen
Were there any bad points?
Well I wouldn’t say that there were any bad points. I guess in life there’s always going to be some difficulties and I guess I’m one of those people who accepts the fact that its not always gonna be good at times but if you work hard and you’re really determined then life can be better.
We’ve seen your new collection. Where did you get the inspiration for it?
My inspiration for this collection came from Salvador Dali’s wife, Gala, I actually went to northern Spain to do some research over there. The collection, your gonna see there’s a lot of soft materials and hard embellishment sort of combined together and the colours reminded me of the hills in northern Spain.
Sounds great! Do you have a favourite piece from the collection?
Yes, there’s actually a few. There’s the black bolero jacket which I love, the white sequined shirt I really like that and the purple evening dress and I think every woman should have it!
As well as designing you’ve also lectured fashion students at Havering College, what was that like?
Yes oh my god! That was good I really enjoyed teaching. I wish I could go back there but I’ve been doing quite a lot of things, I’m trying to establish my own label, I just didn’t have the time to teach any more. When you’re teaching it’s not just a 9-5 job its constant you have to think about your students quite a lot. It’s hard work and I think it would be unfair for me not to give myself entirely to that job so I decided to stop teaching and just work in fashion at the moment.
Do you prefer that?
Well if I can do everything trust me I’d do it but I have to make some choices.
As well as for Oli you’ve designed for Miss Selfridge and Monsoon, how did that come about?
Actually my first job after graduating was working for a couture label and I decided to move on to the high street because in couture you’re just creating clothes for the sake of art and for the sake of creating and there’s a big difference designing for real women and it’s the real women out there who actually consume much of the clothing that you can see everywhere and it is such a challenge because every single woman is different every single body shape is different and I think it was a challenge for me but I really enjoyed it because I learnt a lot.
How do you feel when you see people wearing your designs?
I get excited! For example two days ago I was eating in a restaurant in Old Street with a friend of mine and I was like ‘Hey, check her out she’s wearing one of my tops!’ That was really good it was a good feeling to see someone actually appreciating what I’ve done.
Moving on to next season what do you think will be the key trends?
I think you have to start with the colour palette. There’s quite a lot of muted greys and blacks also with a touch of berry colours, something like a hot pink or purple. Also a catwalk trend at the moment for Autumn/Winter there’s a lot of embellished pieces, so if you want to add a bit of sparkle into your wardrobe and be on trend, find pieces that have embellishment. It could be the collar, it could be the cuff, it could be a detail on a dress.
Are you doing anything to prepare for London fashion week?
At the moment I’m devoting my time to Oli.co.uk, I’m working on the Spring Summer collection for next year as well as preparing for obviously London fashion week, hopefully next year. I said I’m not gonna show till next year anyway so I still have quite a lot of preparation to do. It’s quite slow but we’re getting there.
There’s recently been a revival of original supermodels such as Claudia Schiffer and Christy Turlington been used in campaigns. What do you think about this?
I think it’s great. I think being hot doesn’t mean you have to be 16, 17 or 18. Anybody can be hot. At their age, gosh, they look stunning. They’re the girls that, when I was younger I was looking at them and I was like ‘Gosh. This is why I wanna be in fashion’. One thing that I’m gonna say though is that Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, I think they’re good role models for girls today as women. They’re not size zero or anything like that. I think what they’re doing is really good.
What about Naomi Campbell? Is she a good role model?!
Well Naomi is Naomi! I would say that everybody’s different but you gotta give the girl some credit. I think she had some problems and stuff like that. I’m not here to judge anyone but there you go.
What do you look for in your own models?
I like my models to feel comfortable in what they’re wearing. I’ve used models before from size six to size sixteen. So long as they can sell the garments, so long as they can move in the garments, so long as they’re comfortable I think that’s what makes a good model.
JessicaWatson – Female First