On Tuesday 13th July we were very fortunate to have Sara Mitchell, a lead designer from the world famous Alexander McQueen fashion design studios, give a virtual talk to our students studying A level art, photography and product design.

Showing us plenty of examples in her presentation, Sara underlined how important research is to the design process, with a fascinating explanation of how study visits to the National Museum  Wales inspired a recent collection.

Sara went on to show us how digital drawings, colour cards, leftover fabrics and paper ‘dolls’ are used to show and develop concepts, saying “we never know what the final result will be” when setting out on a new project and how important the creative  journey is. One student later commented, “it was really good to see how the way we work in our own projects is actually how it works in the industry”.

Finishing off with a summary of her career since studying at Leeds, Sara added how other exciting roles in the fashion design industry include patterns cutters, tailors, seamstresses, studio managers, photographers, technicians and product developers.

It was a really energising and inspirational  talk.  Thank you, Sara!

Mr Bennett, Team Leader of Art and Photography