“I haven’t slept properly in 36 hours” is definitely the
sound of a determined fashion designer. This 23 year old- Divya Thompson is far
from your typical student who is glued to Facebook, with pizza congealed beside
them and Jeremy Kyle heckling in the background. Instead Thompson has already
done internships at Erdem and Minna and a fashion course at City College
Coventry. No wonder she is tired.
Thompson’s talent for womenswear emerged when she assisted
the designing of her fifth birthday dress. Her desire to design pushed her to
move from the Lake District and attend UCA in order to make fashion into
something she wanted it to be.
In a commercialised and trend fixated industry, Thompson
derives away from this: “I don’t like to go along with something just because
it’s the thing of the moment; it has to have some story behind it- that to me
is more stimulating.” She wants fashion to be “timeless instead of that throw
away fashion culture…it needs to have more of a conscience.”
Finding most of her inspiration from her love of art and
strong persona’s, Thompson became inspired by the “pain and passion” of Mexican
artist Frida Kahlo who was held together by the strength within her after her
movability was impeded after a tragic accident. Thompson’s textile based
graduate collection embraces the ‘lavish indigenous dress’ of this pain-stained
artist and touches upon the sentiments of Kahlo’s biographical paintings and
her diary is to be made into a print; “the way I work is about creating a story
and I want to celebrate Kahlo’s female strength.” Later stating: “the media tend to show women
in a negative light when they should be positive to young women.” So what’s
next for Thompson- creating a brand and a story for the young women of today on
only a couple hours of sleep?
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