Joining our expert mentoring team Leandra O’Sullivan brings her design experience and expertise to the masterclass table.
Formerly Head of Design at ASOS.com and Debenhams, Leandra has worked in high street fashion for 19 years. She began her career straight after university, assisting on the ready-to-wear collection at Liberty of London & Ck Calvin Klein in NYC, before moving to the high street and working her way up to Head of Design, where she collaborated with numerous fashion brands such as Preen, House of Hackney and Richard Quinn, as well as working directly on own brand designs.
In recent years Leandra has shared her expert knowledge as a mentor for the Graduate Fashion Week protege programme, as well as formally talking about her career and fashion design for organisations such as; The British Consulate in Bejing, FAD charity, The Dots and is soon to join Kingston University as a guest lecturer.
Next she will be hosting her first masterclass: The Design Process: How to Inspire Our Customer at The Glassroom of the Fashion Technology Academy on the 22nd November where she will cover:
+ Behind the scenes to the design process within retailers.
+ Discussing the source of inspiration and how to utilise this information for your own collection.
+ Establishing your own handwriting/ style for your brand.
+ Knowing your customer.
+ Awareness of cultural Appropriation & respecting cultures.
+ Basing this on her recent trip to Mexico, Leandra will be talking you through the process from her original source of inspiration: Mexico: Textiles, Artisans & Culture.
+ This talk will include inspirational images as well as an informal conversation with you on how to excite our customer.
Leandra comments: “Working within design, it’s important for me to continue to grow as a designer and define my values in order to direct my team. I am a firm believer in understanding our customer in order to deliver best and most beautiful product she really wants.”
If you are a designer developing your brand’s signature style and wanting to understand and identify your core customer base then this is the masterclass for you.
To book online for the 2-hour masterclass The Design Process: How to Inspire Our Customer on Thursday 22nd November 2018, 11am – 1pm, click here.