Oxford Fashion Week – Live interview with Hannah Emily Matthews of HEM

I got the opportunity to sit down with Hannah Emily Matthews
of HEM on site at the Ashmolean for Oxford Fashion Week. It was really nice to talk
to her in person.

How are you feeling about
the shows?

I am excited for it, I am excited to see, I am not exactly
sure where it is going to be set yet and I had a wonder round the museum
earlier and it was beautiful, the history was just so amazing. I just want to
know which room it’s going to be in more than anything! And, apparently, the
models like my clothes, so that’s alright. That’s a worry, I always worry that
they’re going to say “I don’t wanna wear it!” but, it looks like it is going
well. I just wanna get my teeth stuck in and help out and see what I can do.

So, out of all of the
clothes that you have created of this new collection, which would you say
defines you as a person?

Ooh, there’s two. Well, all of them really. There’s a suit
jacket, that’s based on a suit of armour and so it’s actually tailored to match
suit armour articulation, there’s a join in the sleeve where the poleyn would
fit on the elbow and there are shorter pieces and lots of buckles and different
bits and pieces, so I really love that. It’s also lined with a symbolic silk
lining which represents what people protect which is hidden in there. Another
one is – because I love history – one of my favourite pieces is the quilted
bodice: it is silk velvet, lined with silk dupion and it is hand embroidered in
a quilting technique that they used to use. They would get doublet and trap
pieces iron plates in between, they would quilt around these and put the
needles through the holes in the pieced iron plate. This would stop any arrows
or swords from getting through. It was quite time consuming and does look quite
rough. Using this quilting technique that is centuries old creates a really
interesting texture against the silk velvet which is folded under, it really
does catches the light which I love as it’s all fluffy and nice. I love being
quite touchy feely with my designs.

You are very knowledgeable
about history, it is interesting to know that your inspiration behind this
collection is medieval armour. Obviously, it is here at Oxford Fashion Week,
but where would you like your designs to go, on certain celebrities, for performance
or displayed as art?

I think I’d like them to be almost like a costume, so I definitely
want to see it on a person as something that reflects their character. My collection
is all about strong women and drawing the links between power and femininity
because I think increasingly now it is more accepted. Previously, it was the
white, middle aged, middle class males who were seen as powerful and were seen
as something and any other races, sexes and sexualities get pushed away as
unimportant. I believe it is really important to capture other cultures and
history and bring things forward. We want to look back and know exactly what
happened and bring the best parts forward and encapsulate that within modern
culture. I want someone who has brilliant ideas about rights and brilliant idea
of themselves to be wearing hat I make. I want people to be confident and
walking around happy in what I have created.

That is very
interesting, quite a few designers I have spoken to over this season have
spoken about confidence and strength within femininity which I find really
interesting as I feel it is very important, within this day and age, that
people from different backgrounds are represented and spoken about. Following
the subject of gender, where do you stand with the gender pay gap and gender
equality?

It travels across everything really, I am very passionate
about it and people forget that because of extremism, it gets harder for people
to take you seriously. You get the extreme feminists that are like the “Femi-Nazis”
– said with air quotes and sarcasm – where people believe it’s women wanting to
overtake men and it is not. I believe that just as much as I want to be paid as
much as men and that I want to walk down the street without people looking at
my chest. I was very happy earlier, I had a man shout “Nice T-shirt” to me, as
I was wearing a Motorhead T-shirt. I’d prefer that than my body being
mentioned. Fathers don’t have enough rights because it is seen that Women as
Mothers should have more rights. And that is not right! Everyone should have
the opportunity to be paid the same and even then people still say it is women
trying to overtake and destroy men. And people are opposing things such as “Black
Lives Matter” and “Women’s Lives Matter” by saying “All Lives Matter” which
completely denies the problem. There is an unstated “Too” that is on the end of
those statements. Those lives matter just as much as anyone else’s. I feel that
everyone should be able to do what they want, live where they want and push
themselves to do everything that they want to do and I think that is what is
really important.

This was one of the most brilliant interviews I have done so
far in my career as a fashion blogger and I appreciated and agreed with Hannah’s
opinions. It was a pleasure talking to such an intelligent, creative and
beautiful lady. She is a very interesting and knowledgeable person to talk to
who just glows with confidence and grace. If you’d like to find out any more information
about Hannah or HEM, Check out her Fabulous Facebook Here. 

Victoryforu

Victorious Everyday