Rhian Owen

Grey Sheep

Location

london / United Kingdom

University

Winchester School of Art / University of Southampton. UK

Rhian Owen is a First Class Honours Fashion and Textile Design Graduate with a passion for luxury and Haute Couture Womenswear Fashion Design. She is inspired by history and modern social attitudes, and likes to discover complex concepts to translate into design. She assembles unexpected fabric stories that evoke luxury, and creates her own textiles to push the boundaries of creativity in the high end luxury market.
Rhian Owen also creates powerful silhouettes with the belief that design is a job that requires both art and engineering in equal measure.
While at university, she was awarded the Nancy Belfour award in recognition for her work in her final collection, and her work was selected to represent Winchester School of Art at the British Fashion Council Portfolio Day. Her final collection was also featured on Vogue, Idol Magazine and The Purpose of It.

Latest Collection

Graduate Collection: Concealment and Deception

My Graduate Collection has been inspired and driven by the methods of concealment during the Reformation in Tudor England. My research led me to realise that the ways in which we conceal, deceive and hide has not really changed, but the tools we use in which to obscure our identity has, seen especially in the development of the internet. I was particularly drawn to the Snowden revelations, modern methods of surveillance and online security. Therefore, my concept weaves religious concealment with ideas of modern disguise.
Concepts such as these are the most pivotal part of my work. I love to discover complex ideas that will challenge my ability to translate into design.
I have selected fabrics which feature metallic graphic patterning, a reference both to patterns we associate with computing and the opulence and wealth of the Catholic Church.
This collection provided me with the opportunity to explore the events of the past, and become inspired by shadows of people who have lived and fought before us. It has also given an insight into the events that could happen in the future. These considerations within our living environment, and the experiences we have lived through alter us and for designers become part of their creative DNA. Therefore, design is a way in which I can express my interests, my concerns with society, and explore the power of the human imagination.

Photo credit Lisette Villalon