After Graduate Fashion Week in June, Lauren Smith was the name on everybody’s lips as the young Scottish designer walked away with the coveted George Gold award. After recently graduating from Edinburgh College of Art with a BA in Fashion, Smith is now set to complete an MA in Textiles back in Edinburgh.

Yesterday, Frost caught up with Smith while showcasing her collection at the Graduate Showcase for Vauxhall’s Fashion Scout.

The 3 pieces you have on show today were taken from your graduate collection, what were your inspirations behind this?

My collection has been heavily inspired by the work of Dieter Roth. Two of his collections, “Diaries” and “Work Tables” are specifically important. I am intrigued by what we leave behind i.e. our thoughts, workings and secrets. As seen in his collection “work tables”, Roth discovered that what was left behind on our desks etc was actually sometimes more interesting than the final works. The sketches, scribbles and notes left aside aren’t planned or organised and it is this aspect I wanted to bring into the garments.

Roland Mouret described your collection as ’emotional’ – do you find that your personality comes into play a lot when you’re designing?

I always like to make my work personal, I feel like it’s the best way to introduce myself and work to the industry. I am so pleased Roland Mouret picked up on it with my graduate collection!

What materials did you use for your collection? Were these easy enough to come-by or did you struggle to source them?

I used a number of materials in the collection including leather, cotton canvas and cotton panama. The main focus of my collection was the manipulation and embellishments and so the materials weren’t particularly complex.

You won gold at this year’s Graduate Fashion Week – congratulations! – what are your plans now?

I have just started my MA in Textiles at ECA and am really looking forward to exploring a combination of textiles and fashion.

Where do you want to take your designs in the future?

I haven’t got a set plan for the future but I want to keep exploring and creating work that combines fashion textiles and illustration.