Claire Tagg…The Journey of A Fashion Week Designer
British designer Claire Tagg who describes her brand as ‘a quirky printed mini dress that is a complete one-off and created with so much love (With some crazy oversized printed sleeves that are totally unwearable but look incredible)’ continues the fascination with glamour and elaborate print work in her AW19 collection with a much more stylish aesthetic. The designer uses digital printing to create beautiful prints, with each element being hand drawn and collaged with rich textures made from layers of ripped paper and acrylic. Each garment is lovingly hand beaded, creating a unique piece every time ensuring no two pieces looking the same. Tagg prefers to spend time hand drawing each print to create something that is perfectly unique.
Image by Mollie Dalton
Growing up Claire’s dream wasn’t always to be the biggest fashion designer in the world. Since Claire was a little girl, she had always dreamed of working for a glamorous airline and traveling all around the world. However, when Claire finally got the job of her dreams as an air hostess, she realised that it wasn’t at all what she expected. Claire’s graduate collection was inspired by her personal story of her past career as an airline stewardess.
Claire’s love for elaborate architecture found her regularly traveling into Paris on her days off from work. Equipped with her camera, Claire walked the streets of the French capital, wandering into museums and galleries to find intricate artefacts. Capturing the details of its buildings is what inspired her to transition into print design and she began to make detailed drawings inspired by Parisian architecture and vintage interiors.
Image by Mollie Dalton
Image by Mollie Dalton
Claire then went on to graduate at The University Of The Creative Arts Rochester with a 1st class honours in Fashion Textiles Print and was runner up for the M&S womenswear award at the 2017 GFW Gala show. She debuted her AW18 collection in 2018 with Fashion Scout during London Fashion Week. On showcasing at London Fashion Week, Claire says ‘showcasing at LFW helped to present our first collection to a large audience and to make connections within the industry.’
Claire is one of the many fashion students who are fortunate enough to gain such exposure. There are various schemes and opportunities on offer to emerging designers although more can always be done. However, as Claire says at the end of the day ‘the only person who can make it happen is yourself.’
Image by Mollie Dalton
As many opportunities and schemes as there may be on offer, one thing that is hard to teach or give to someone is self-belief. In an industry that is critical, often deemed shallow and often destroys creatives, it is difficult to maintain that self-belief once your collection that you have spent time, effort and money creating is torn apart by people who don’t simply appreciate your style. ‘To be perfectly honest we don’t overcome our doubts. We overthink everything so much to the point where sometimes we do not follow out any of our ideas. The designs we create are always a filtered version of our original ideas. There is so much pressure on designers to create something that is totally original and to ‘not be afraid to be different’ but this just makes it harder to be creative.’, Claire expresses
The fashion world is a tough world to break into much like many other industries. To have longevity in the industry a strong sense of character is required. We wonder what keeps Claire going when the going gets tough, ‘our experience of the fashion industry has been a complete rollercoaster. One day you are creating beautiful clothes and having the best ideas and the next you’re at rock bottom. In all honestly, every day is a struggle to not give up. We have got to the point now where we can’t give up because we have come so far and learned so much from every bad experience. So much blood, sweat, and tears have gone into getting the brand to where it is today, and it has all been worth it.’
