Interview with Graduate Designer David Ferreira

I love the dream of fashion. I want to wear big dresses everyday and feel extraordinary. The right dress can change everything and  David Ferrreira's designs are a modern play on traditional shapes with big fluffy yellow shoes adding a touch of humour!Designer Davide Ferreira BA (Honours) Fashion Design at University of WestminsterGive us one interesting fact about yourself. I always get alone in a room and start dancing before drawing any collection.Describe your work aesthetic. Through my work I try to create new silhouettes which I embellish either through techniques or materials creating interesting textures making clothes that are an extension of the wearers personality.Who/what inspires you? My main sources of inspiration are people, in special women, different cultures and also the ugliness of humanity since I find it much stronger and interesting than its beauty.What fashion business do you admire most. The fashion business that I admire the most is Haute Couture since it’s the most special and artistic side of fashion. Haute Couture is all about creation and beauty making it a source of perfection. It allows the designer to create his own world towards a consumer that uses fashion as statement of life. Haute Couture is a way to create clothes that are both unique and painstakingly perfect. Everything that a fashion designer wishes.What is the best piece of industry advice that you've ever been given? Trust no one when it comes to your vision, and follow your instinct.Talk us through your final project. My final project is the wardrobe of an imaginary Muse, who is a modern version of Sally Potter’s Orlando, a time traveller who is deeply marked by her roots in the Parisian Belle Époque and Chinese Qing dynasty. In particular inspired in personalities such as Empress Cixi of china and Eugénie de Montijo, Empress of France. The aesthetic of my final collection was also influenced by practices such as slow sliding and corsetry.How important were your internships? Internships were extremely important to grow as a designer and have a much stronger insight how to run a fashion business and how to push the boundaries in areas such as embellishment and pattern cutting. From all my internships I had developed different skills. From I have intern at Giles Deacon, Meadham Kirchhoff and Iris Van Herpen and all of them gave me the possibility to improve myself, technical skills and craftsmanship that made me able to create my visions. They had an important role in shaping the designer that I am today.What do you love about what you do? I love the ability of creating. It is something very personal. It gives me the ability to shows how I feel and see the world around me. Altogether with my creations being clothes and worn by someone makes it even more special and intimate.What does graduating mean for you? The beginning of my career.Where do you see yourself in five years’ time? I see myself having my own label and doing what I aim to do - to create – in Paris.