In conversation with Rachael Eustace

Edinburgh University student Rachael Eustace talks to us about her graduate collection, music, and dressing up in her mum and dad’s clothes…

Question: When did you first know that you wanted to be a fashion designer?

Answer:

It sounds typical/cheesy, but the truth is that I have always designed clothes. For a short time I wanted to study photography; I still love taking photos and photography in general – but fashion design was always what I was going to do. I used to dress in my dad’s clothes and copy his style, then other days I would practice walking in my mum’s heels…I loved how different clothes made you feel-even at this young age of around four or five, so I guess a fascination with dressing and styling at a young age grew into a desire to design.

Question: What was the inspiration behind your graduate collection?

Answer:

I spent a lot of time before entering my final year deciding and exploring what my graduate ‘theme’ would be. Only once I had exhausted all my interests, different eras, trends etc. did I realise none of it mattered – it had little substance and it didn’t feel personal enough. I wanted my inspiration to be raw and completely honest, so I began to look at whatever I wanted and didn’t question why – even if it seemed strange or all unconnected.

Only after I looked at everything I had gathered and created did I see the strands connecting – the underlying emotions and reasons I had subconsciously followed the research I had. In this way it was undiluted and I was almost self-healing through my art and learning more about my own hopes and fears through these methods of finding ‘inspiration’. In short, I was looking at myself and the world – writing personal letters, mark making, looking at old photography that moved me- water- ice-waves- everything and anything. Looking back on it as a body of work it feels highly personal to me and my life at the time it was created.

Question: Can you tell us a little bit about your creative process?

Answer:

Probably explained above…but if you hadn’t gathered from my blabbering – my processes are always spontaneous, random, truthfully honest and at times abstract. Calm and crazy, organised chaos – I love balance and I love opposites. These themes drive how I see the world and how I work through my creative process. I’m a Libra so I guess this struggle to create balance is built in me somewhere! I can only be mad for so long, then I crave calm – then I’m calm for too long and crave madness. I like to just do something because it feels right and question why later, I like making a mess just to draw neat lines in between the smudges. I try to put a bit of myself into everything I do – or else I feel like what’s the point in creating?

Question: If you could pick a soundtrack for your collection, what three songs would be included?

Answer:

Anything from Grant Campbell’s album Expecting Great things. He is a singer-songwriter from Glasgow and his voice sounds like it’s coming from a different body than his own. He is a friend of my family and we used a song of his as a theme tune to a video created during a road trip my father and I took across America. That particular song always takes me back to that time, immediately back. It’s extremely powerful to me and makes me feel such strong emotions every time I listen to it – it will be timeless to me for these reasons.

Anything Dylan. His songs also take me back to happy memories. Road trips up to the highlands when I was very young – in the car Dylan was always playing – most likely Mr Tambourine man or Blowing in the Wind. I still recall looking out the window to the Scottish landscapes at night and loving being up at that time, with the sound of the harmonica coming through the radio – the flashing lights of cars coming towards us…that’s the power of a song.

Lastly, Layla by Eric Clapton- I played this a lot in the studio whilst making the collection – love the song, the drama and energy around it with the electric guitars and the wholesome sounding vocals.

All three songs mean something to me, hence to the collection – they evoke memories and I find them powerful and raw. They drive me to feel. And when I feel, I can produce and create – they are all connected.

Question: How would you describe your personal style?

Answer:

One day I can look very feminine – I love putting on a beautiful dress and feeling powerful and attractive – the next day I want to wear men’s clothes. My style is as random and emotionally driven as I am. One thing goes one day, and if I want to feel something else the next day, my clothes change. As I said earlier, when I was younger I would dress up in both my mum and dad’s wardrobes, without worrying that one was guys and one was girls; it wasn’t the clothes that mattered, but more what the clothes made me feel. That still stands today in my attitude to dressing, and in the way I design. I guess in this way, I’m an emotional dresser – if that’s even a thing.

Question: Where are your favourite places to visit in Edinburgh?

Answer:

Mum and Dad’s house – they recently just moved from Glasgow and I couldn’t be more grateful they moved to the same city where I was studying. The house feels like a support hub, especially during final year stress it was a haven!

Edinburgh has loads of great coffee shops; really cool wee places to sit on your laptop or watch the world go by. I love doing that…not that I had much time in my final year!

Question: What tips would you give to your younger self at the start of your degree that you wish you’d known?

Answer:

That my gut instinct was right and that you can never be too personal in your work.

Question: What can we expect to see next from you?

Answer:

I honestly don’t know, but I’ll work it out. It’s exciting. Let’s see, something good I hope…