Isabelle Tustin

My design style stems from my elite technical training as an atelier student. I incorporate couture techniques into my 3D-driven design process and love to create on the stand before refining on paper. My designs stem from artistic movements and personas, as I love to connect my clothes to real people and visually contextualise my work.

My ambition as a designer is to shed light on the evocative and subversive messages hidden in the art of women. I plan to do a Masters degree in fashion design to further explore these ideas in-depth and solidify my identity as a contemporary designer with the classical expertise to elevate my work.

My collection, The Artist and the Muse is inspired by Lee Miller and Man Ray in surrealist Paris.

Lee Miller and Man Ray existed in the late 1920s-1930s Paris when the surrealist art movement emerged. I focus on Miller and her complex relationship with Ray which evolved from artist and apprentice to artist and muse. The tension in the relationship intrigues me as Miller sought autonomy as an artist and liberated woman against the will of her obsessive lover. Elements such as asymmetry, freedom and constraint represent Ray’s controlling nature, juxtaposed by his muse’s desire for creative autonomy.

There is an element of drama and passion in the context of my collection which I want to highlight through strong lines and emphasised silhouettes. My collection has a powerful, modern sense of femininity that embraces both the fragility and strength expressed in Ray and Miller’s relationship, alongside the passion that I have for my concept and for the atelier practice.