Seeking the Creative: Lucy May Bittlestone, Fashion Designer & Illustrator

Playful In Paradise. CREDIT: Lucy May Bittlestone

How would you describe your art in three words?

Playful, fun and spontaneous.

Fashion Designer and Illustrator, Lucy Bittlestone, demonstrates the great power that clothing holds in our lives. The artist from London has been sketching fashion designs since she was a young child, and has carried her passion of creativity with her all her life. For Lucy, she isn’t just simply creating trendy garments. She is inspired by the feeling we experience through fashion expression, particularly carefree feelings of joy and fantasy. With her most recent collection, entitled Playful in Paradise, Lucy was inspired to fashion pieces that demonstrated a sense of escapism— a line that enabled audiences to feel like their imaginative younger self again. She hopes to continue developing her brand and designing as many pieces as possible, however Lucy’s biggest hope with her work is to inspire audiences and remind them of the limitless possibility that fashion can provide.

Where/how do you gather inspiration?

I look at the perception between reality and fantasy when sourcing inspiration. I take influences from natural shapes and forms to create texture and volume in my work, using books and films as my main choice of research. I like to collect a bank of images that would help me move forward with my work, both primary and secondary.

What do you hope audiences retain from your work?

Life should be a picnic of fun, happiness and being carefree. More often than not we fall into a tedious existence, being too comfortable without seeking for more of an adventure, or something pushes the boundaries. Through clothing and illustrations, I want to revitalize the playfulness we feel as children, taking this into an adult like reality, generating a magical sense of what we sometimes wish we were doing, instead of living in the now.