Designer Series, Knitwear: Meet Cynthia F.
I am so excited to introduce a new addition to the Designer Series!
Meet Cynthia F., a 20 year-old knitwear design student at Central Saint
Martins in London (yes, that which gave us Alexander McQueen, John
Galliano, Gareth Pugh, Stella McCartney and Christopher Kane. Oh, and
M.I.A.). As I was describing in recent posts about knitwear, this
growing fashion design discipline is redefining how we generally
perceive knit garments, and the pushing toward new ideas will only gain
momentum as new talent emerges.
All signs point to Cynthia being on this track - she's a brilliant illustrator, a conceptual thinker and is able to translate her ideas to her final creations. Oh, and she can knit, too!
Where did her pursuit of fashion begin?
She came from Hong Kong to London a few years ago to find that others
were impressed by her artistic abilities, so she decided to pursue them
with this new-found encouragement. Making fairy dresses at age eight
inspired her to learn to use a sewing machine and by 15 she was doing
gothic lolita dresses - it was then she knew that fashion at CSM was
her dream.
And the knitting? As a young teen Cynthia learned to knit and was thrilled to find out that knitwear was an actual path one could study, she loves that she can create the fabric as she goes along, as well as decorate it. And that she's learning something very technical which she can apply in the design process rounds it out perfectly.
Style and Influences? She's very fond of shapes - sculptural shapes that hang on the body in a complementary way is one of her criteria when designing. Favourite knitwear designers are Sandra Backlund, Louise Goldin and Liria Pristine.
And now? In first year at CSM with her own knitwear label called CFST - the initials for her English and Chinese names. She's also been working with Ada Zanditon for the past two seasons - this season focusing on knitwear using organic and ethical materials, and also with Emma Bell, helping with three of her Intarsia pieces.
Let's get to the knits. For her Century Knit project (illustration above), Cynthia chose the 1940s. She was inspired by war time and wanted to created a helmet with knit. There's and also a neckpiece that was influenced by the fur collar pilots would wear:
All signs point to Cynthia being on this track - she's a brilliant illustrator, a conceptual thinker and is able to translate her ideas to her final creations. Oh, and she can knit, too!
And the knitting? As a young teen Cynthia learned to knit and was thrilled to find out that knitwear was an actual path one could study, she loves that she can create the fabric as she goes along, as well as decorate it. And that she's learning something very technical which she can apply in the design process rounds it out perfectly.
Style and Influences? She's very fond of shapes - sculptural shapes that hang on the body in a complementary way is one of her criteria when designing. Favourite knitwear designers are Sandra Backlund, Louise Goldin and Liria Pristine.
And now? In first year at CSM with her own knitwear label called CFST - the initials for her English and Chinese names. She's also been working with Ada Zanditon for the past two seasons - this season focusing on knitwear using organic and ethical materials, and also with Emma Bell, helping with three of her Intarsia pieces.
Let's get to the knits. For her Century Knit project (illustration above), Cynthia chose the 1940s. She was inspired by war time and wanted to created a helmet with knit. There's and also a neckpiece that was influenced by the fur collar pilots would wear:
There's lots more innovative knits coming from Cynthia F. so watch this space!
ah so thats the face behind cfst! I'll have to try n spot her around london fashion week if i'm there.
Posted by: Jen | February 03, 2009 at 11:48 AM