Lisa McConniffe

10th July 2016.

“This year I wanted to question, what is modern day accessory?”
I am an accessories designer with an aesthetic that focuses on colour, beauty, pop, surrealism, and cosmetics. Through working in design, I discovered that the small details can make the perfect accessory. When creating my collections I get as excited about creating a handle as I do about the as the collection as a whole. My Royal College of Art collection is called ‘cosmetic chaos’, reflecting its playful and experimental approach and youthful vibe. Colour is one of my key strengths, along with creating vibrant pieces that are wearable and with a contemporary playful twist.
I believe it is essential to create a balance within a collection, exploring the full range of possibilities, from more extreme catwalk to commercial viable pieces. As a result, my collections explore plastic and leather fabrication processes in the professional industry, creating manufactured finished pieces with different factories, on a range of different processes and scales (from a small bubble bean clutch to a vanity suitcase). This was combined with fixtures & fittings, developed with specialist manufacturers, which explore the idea of pushing alternatives to the traditional accessories notion. I wanted to be creative and push the detail of the designs, viewing the handle as a much more sculptural piece and visualizing how it could be held.
Constantly researching new technologies and creating editorial imagery feeds into the development stage of my new design ideas. Accessories isn’t just about individual pieces, I enjoy looking at the full look and bringing my prints and vision to life through live collages. I design every element from the t-shirt dress to the makeup/nails and shoes. During the RCA show I placed a model within the fashion show audience, a bold statement which attracted the likes of Hilary Alexander and Pandemonia.