At the recent London Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2012, designer Georgia Hardinge was responsible for producing one of the most striking womenswear collections. Inspired by Cubist art and with nods to art deco architecture, Harding’s elegant clothes relied on layers of printed chiffon seductively draped across the female body to accentuate shapes in a graceful manner.
Predominant flowing maxi dresses contrasted with a range of tops and mini-skirts architecturally conceived in rigid yet extremely elegant structures. The colours and geometric patterns chosen for the garments were inspired by Cubist paintings and evoked the work produced by artists such as Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso: shades of grey and white were enlivened with flashes of burnt orange, putty, and cobalt blue throughout sheer fabrics to provide a sense of depth and scale. At the same time, cubes, pentagons, and triangular shapes provided form and function to the collection while also allowing a sense of depth and ambiguity.
Born in London, Georgia Harding graduated from Parsons Paris School of Art and Design in 2008. Her graduate collection received the Golden Thimble, an award for best designer. She was recognized for creating highly technical and structural pieces which showed her creativity for contemporary design. Her talent was praised by designer Georgia Hardinge Womenswear Spring/Summer 2012 who described her as ‘little pieces of fresh poetry’. Continuing her success, Samsung chose her to create a one-off collection for their advertisement which was aired worldwide. Since her return to London in early 2009, Hardinge has been involved in numerous projects and has delivered four collections under her own label.
In July of 2009, she was chosen to take part in ‘All Walks Beyond the Catwalk’, a project set up by Caryn Franklin and Erin O’Connor to challenge the expectations of ready-to-wear imagery by showcasing a variety of age, shape and sizes of models. The catwalk event also included designers such as Mark Fast, Hannah Marshall and David Koma. She went on to show her designs in September 2009 as part of independent fashion showcase ON|OFF alongside London Fashion Week. The following season, she exhibited her Autumn/Winter 2010 collection with the support of a promotional fashion film. Hardinge’s Autumn/Winter 2011 first stand-alone runway show at Vauxhall Fashion Scout was greeted with astounding success, allowing her to receive a merit Award and be described as ‘one to watch’.
There is little doubt that, since its foundation, the Georgia Hardinge brand has been moving at a deservedly growing pace. As examples of recent key landmarks, Hardinge has had her label’s debut London Fashion Week catwalk show being sponsored by Vauxhall Fashion Scout, has been commissioned by L’Oreal to make six dresses for their Colour Trophy Grand Final Show, and has received sponsorship from Swarovski to work with Charlotte Stockdale on a project to take place in November 2011.
With such talent, it is no surprise that Georgia Hardinge’s collections can now be found in retailers as far afield as Australia, Dubai, Japan, Qatar, and the US. At The Style Examiner we very much hope that Hardinge will remain ‘one to watch’ for a very long time.
