2013 WGSN Emerging Fashion Brand winner Emma J Shipley has released her AW14 collection, inspired by polar expeditions of great explorers, Scott, Shackelton, Peary and Amundsen. The label launched in 2012 during London Fashion Week – pretty amazing considering Shipley had only graduated from Royal Collage of Art a year earlier – and instantly garnered a loyal fan base who were enthralled by her stunning and intricate designs. Her graduate collection was even snapped up by Browns.
Emma J Shipley brands herself as a graphic artist, inspired by the irregular patterns and unique beauty of the natural world; her work blends fantasy and reality in a bonded surrealism that has caught the eye of the world’s leading retailers. Emma is stocked at Harvey Nichols, Saks Fifth Avenue and Barneys in Tokyo.
To begin her work on the new collection, Emma took a trip to the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge to discover and study artefacts and photographs, which in turn influenced the collection. The collection involved multiple inspirations, from old-world maps, Norse Mythology and early scientific studies of Arctic and Antarctica animals to the Technicolor beauty that is the Aurora Borealis – Shipley stated in an interview with Hunger TV that the His Dark Materials by Philip Pulman were some of her favourite books.
Every design is painstakingly drawn in pencil, before being printed onto fabric, Italian’s finest of course, and finished by hand. The collection is beautiful, full of colour and character and adds a great narrative to the fashion-lovers wardrobe. Blending art and fashion, as seems to be the norm these days; the delicate fabric and ornate drawings create a parallel that questions the fragility of these polar species and their world.
Discover more and shop Emma J Shipley at www.emmajshipley.com
