Maude
22 January 2010
After his participation as an ITS#FASHION finalist at ITS#SIX, David Longshaw did not stop developing a concept that is in fact the starting point of his whole work. His own personal way of expressing creativity. David worked for Alberta Ferretti (a position he secured even before graduating from Royal College of Arts) and then MaxMara for quite a while before thinking about starting his own brand. Both experiences were an important step for David in understanding how the business part of fashion works, and how hard it is. Though very keen to launch his own label, he was smart enough to understand that without some good experience, gained by working for renowned companies, his dream would have remained just that.
His debut collection is entitled "Maude". What David does when he starts developing a collection is he starts drawing. And he doesn't start by sketching outfits. He draws characters, and a story involving those characters. Actually, David is quite a good illustrator. You can see it yourselves in the pictures accompanying this article, and he even has the "Colin Barnes Drawing Prize" he won in 2005 to prove it. So fashion design for him is more like a logical progression of drawing and writing stories. We've met young designers like that several times. Some have the most awkward ways of finally getting into developing outfits. It's as if each young talent finds their own personal way of "channelling" creativity from mind to creation. And this is David's way.
We had already seen this way of working in the collection he presented at ITS#SIX. But this time David has gone way beyond. Or maybe it’s the opposite: the character he developed this time has gone way beyond him! The importance that Maude, the "fashionable fabric mouse" created by David, has in the concept and communication of the collection is huge. Most of the times, it's not David talking about Maude. It's Maude who talks about him. She (allow us to personify her, due to the strength of her persona...) has her own magazine, the "highly influential fashion bible" entitled "Maudezine". She even has her own personal blog. And David, her creator (but we wouldn’t focus too much on this detail when talking to Maude...), develops all of his clothes and communicates his work through her.
David created Maude and Maude is David's muse. The character and the story that David developed are not only a process in the construction of his collection. They are a side project, that develops in its own way. They are a communication tool that works simultaneously in two directions: they communicate the collection, enrich its concept and talk about David's work at the same time. And what's really great is that Maude can be irreverent, she can say things David cannot. She has a more freedom of speech.
Maude is very proud of David's work, and we are too. And we also love Maude. We love the pictures of her in frosty United Kingdom at the beginning of January (go to Maude's blog and leave a message), and we love her funny and original way of being a fashion victim without the bitchy side of it. Maude is a great journalist and writer and we highly recommend you read her interviews. You can read them on her online magazine "Maudezine" available at David's personal website.
But we don't want to forget about David's wonderful clothes. About the wonderful cuts in the outfits for this collection, where Maude inspires digital prints on silk as well as shapes recalling her head, appearing as pockets and fabric manipulations throughout the garments. When you focus only on his clothes, you understand a lot more. You understand that Maude, and the story, and the illustrations...they are not an excuse to distract you from weak outfits or insufficient technical capabilities. The outfits are strong enough on their own, they do not need Maude, nor Maudezine, nor the blog nor communication to be wonderful.
It's just that David loves illustrating at least as much as he loves fashion. And he found the perfect way to combine his two passions in one single, and we hope long-lasting, project.
