Fashion design students prove they're scentsational
First Year Fashion Design students at The University of Salford have teamed up with Maya Njie Perfumes, a niche fragrance house which sells perfumes at world-renowned fashion and beauty stores including ‘Liberty’s of London’, ‘The Conran Shop’ and ‘Goodhood’.
Each group of students were given a different scent from Maya’s range of contemporary, genderless perfumes to take inspiration from and set a challenge to design a collection of outfits before presenting them online in a digital show.
For one of the students, Hannah Barston, the scent she worked from was 'Les Fleurs', inspired by Minnie Riperton’s song 'Les Fleur'.
She said: “Back in March we received a letter in the post which we were not allowed to open until the launch of the project. We had no idea at this point what the project was about or what was in the letter which was really exciting.
“Eventually when we could finally open them on the project launch, we each received a different perfume sample, and the scent determined our groups. This is when I found out I was going to be working with Les Fleurs!”
Hannah shared the process of making the pieces and how the music inspired the collection.
‘After many sketches, designs and draping on the mannequin we finally came to our line-up. I enjoyed creating some of the accessories for the project including bucket hats and bags. For the accessories we used real, dried flowers trapped in PVC fabric to express the floral essence and the bright and colourful nature we felt from the perfume which I think turned out really well.”
She added: “The song gave us with the idea to make the collection more voluminous and loud like the music!”
The groups presented their designs online in a digital show, and Hannah’s group went the extra mile, sending out physical invites in glass bottles with flowers inside.
James Pegg, Lecturer in Fashion Design said: “Hannah was one of the team leaders for the ‘Les Fleurs’ fragrance and used her incredible illustration skills to help bring the groups collection to life."
Hannah also commented on how much she has taken from this unique opportunity offered by the University.
She said: “I gained so much in this project in terms of pulling together a collection and dealing with any setbacks in such a fast paced and intense manner. It was also beneficial learning how to find models, videographers and photographers in order to achieve a professional look. Being a team leader also gave me confidence to support to team members as and when they needed.”
She added: “The support from tutors was always greatly appreciated. Through weekly tutorials, they gave us advice on what was working and what needed to be changed, always helping us along the way.”
You can have a look at the project online, and you can check out @salfordfashiondesign on Instagram to see even more of the students’ work.
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