Emily Harper

My Final Major Project centres around the brand 'Holloway', positioned as a high-end luxury womenswear brand with a focus on producing quality-driven and sustainable products. Holloway was inspired by a period in history where women were subjected to inequality and hardship. Many Suffragettes were imprisoned during this period, in retaliation to their protests, and upon release were awarded with a ‘Holloway Brooch’. Representative of Hope and freedom, ‘Holloway’ perfectly captures the essence of the brand & the collection.

My Graduate collection, ‘From Suffering to Suffrage’, goes hand-in-hand with my brand & it’s ethos; inspired by research from eras that marked a huge shift in women’s rights; before, during and after WW1. Parallels can be drawn between the struggles faced by the Suffragettes in the first wave of feminism, and the present day. My collection aims to recognise these struggles and celebrate how far women have come over the last century, whilst highlighting how far there is still to go in the fight for equality. Adopting a sustainable approach, leather offcuts, (acquired from British leather supplier Pittards, who sponsored my collection) and deadstock materials and have been utilised throughout, patch-working the off-cuts together adding character and individuality to each piece.