For those that don’t know me, hi, my name is Gemma, Fashion Graduate/stylist and Nic’s girlfriend. I have recently been involved in some styling work with the band using my experience from styling shoots of my own at University to working with photographers and production companies.
My love of fashion has always been there since I was a child and being a musician myself, the two have kind of intertwined and influenced each other. I studied at Heriot Watt University in the renowned School of Textiles & Design. I learnt so much, from how to construct garments to illustration and marketing my creations. I’ve always wanted to create work that is out of the norm, that creates an emotional reaction and makes people think.
In my graduate collection, I documented my ordeal with psychosis and mental health issues. I designed my own print used throughout the collection which included the dopamine chemical structure (chemical in the brain during mania) and combined this with patterns of distortion shapes from televisions emulating my hallucinations. The complex pattern cutting techniques used throughout the pieces were heavily inspired by armour referencing resilience and the more literal idea that I had certain items of clothing I felt safe in when I was unwell (strange I know). It had everything I wanted in a collection, drama, extravagant silhouettes and symbolism and to be honest it was a real healing experience being able to put such a personal ordeal into my work and get it out there for people to see. I felt like it was important to create an open conversation about this type of illness as it still has a heavy stigma attached to it even though it is surprisingly very common.
Throughout my work, I have always been heavily inspired by music and the music industry. My music taste ranges from Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf to Lady Gaga and Guns N’ Roses. Lady Gaga was my main inspiration all the way through high school and still today. From her early days on “The Monster Ball Tour” I became obsessed with the stage outfits and how each outfit echoed a narrative relating to her songs. I found it powerful how she created a persona and chameleonic image that moulded and developed to suit her at different stages of her career as a pop artist. Each stage in her life was a progression, a constant evolution of her image, this was without doubt primarily created with fashion and styling. It is without doubt that music influences fashion and vice versa from Vivienne Westwood working with the Sex Pistols to designers like Jeremy Scott of Moschino designing pop culture tongue in cheek looks for Katy Perry.
After graduating from University, I gained experience working with stylists in production companies. It was from this that Nic suggested I do some styling work with The Passing Sages and work together to create cohesive and impactful looks for performances and photoshoots. In styling The Sages’ shoots I began with mainly making use of clothes that the band members already had. I enjoy chopping and changing outfits, seeing what suits on screen and what doesn’t quite work. You can see some examples of outfit options for Holly and Carrie below which were based on their branding colour palette!
My favourite part of styling is using accessories. I believe you can completely change a look with them and I aim to focus on this more in my future work with the band. I personally think that it's important in styling a band to create a look for someone that they would probably already have in their wardrobe but elevated. In other words I aim to keep each individual band member's identity even when choosing different stage worthy outfits. I think it’s important to always communicate with the person I’m styling to ensure they’re comfortable in what they’re wearing and own it.
Going back to the beginning of the very first lockdown, I began to revisit my garment making skills I achieved in my degree whilst being furloughed from my retail job. I developed a love for upcycling and renovating clothing. I first started off with one of Nic’s striped shirts which had a decent fabric and design to it. I started cutting it up and creating different fabric manipulations and shapes on the dress form. I began to develop a love for upcycling, particularly vintage garments (finished shirt is on my Instagram page and below). In going through lockdown it really made me reevaluate what I want to do with my degree and seeing people I attended University with working for themselves, I really want to do the same. The plan at the moment is to hopefully set up my own business selling vintage and upcycled pieces online and hopefully in the future move this on to bespoke pieces made from scratch.
I think sustainability is something I will strive to focus on when building a new business especially the way things are going with most people buying from fast fashion sites such as Boohoo and Missguided. I hope to steer away from this and bring quality, individuality and versatility, not something that is in fashion for 5 minutes and lasts one wash before it’s ruined. It’s an incredibly daunting feeling taking a leap to make a go of it on my own but I think it’s needed now more than ever. As my own worst critic (as most people who know me know) this will be the most daunting thing I have done to date but I am determined to make it worth it, watch this space.
I’m incredibly excited for the future projects with The Sages and hope to bring more of my skills into play. In the future, I hope to create personally designed/constructed outfits for use onstage hopefully when The Sages can start gigging again! Some examples of my work are currently on my instagram @gemwick9, hopefully soon I will have a whole new page dedicated to my work ready to sell!
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