Brutalist Maximalist is inspired by the contrasting design movements of the sixties and seventies.

Taking initial inspiration from the WGSN SS17 trend Edgelands, I was inspired to research Brutalist architecture. Brutalism was a modernist architecture movement in the post war period championed by artists such as Le Corbusier. Brutalist architecture is most typically known as large, utilitarian, concrete buildings. The buildings, considered ugly by most, comprise rough exterior finishes with large colliding shapes and service features on display.

The buildings can be perceived as cold, hard and intimidating. I love this misunderstood style and wanted to create something aesthetically pleasing from something so many consider ugly to show the beauty in the form and features of Brutalism. I was also inspired by the way these buildings had deteriorated since the seventies, when they were built with this utopian design principle in mind, and are now associated with poverty and decline. I found the contrast between this minimalist architectural style and the fashion and interiors trends of the same time period, which were bold, colourful and over-the-top, intriguing and so used this as inspiration for the print.

Combining these two conflicting trends I created clean, minimal silhouettes with light seventies influences. These simple silhouettes act as a canvas for the bold, bright and contrasting prints inspired by wallpaper of the time and the concrete of the brutalist buildings. Six contrasting colours were chosen to create the prints and were mixed and matched throughout; creating a collection that can be worn in many different ways. The target market for this collection is bold, fashion forward women aged from 25 to 55.