Featured Member - Andrea Toth
www.danlofi.com/andreatoth
www.pelime.com/andreatoth
Born in Hungary, Andrea has studied ladieswear fashion and textile design since 1992 at several colleges. She studied for her degree at the University of Art and Design, Budapest, specialising in knitwear. She won a place on the Erasmus scholarship and spent 3 months at the London College of Fashion. After graduating she worked with Manier, Haute Couture Salon, Budapest, as designer assistant to Aniko Nemeth, producing costumes for a contemporary dance performance and Aniko’s Autumn / Winter collection. In 2005 she moved to London and worked as a pattern cutter and design assistant to couture designers, including Candy Anthony and Rachel Elbaz. In 2008 she went on to study an MA in Fashion Design and Technology at the London College of Fashion, specialising in knitwear, graduating in 2010. Her latest collection was shown in the London College of Fashion MA catwalk show, ‘MA_sters’
Her work has won awards and been shown in London, Budapest, and also in France for the prestigious Saint Etienne Biennial. She won an award with her costume design in the Moulin Rouge competition (from Eurotextil) and was also an award winner in the European Tables competition (from the Vendegvaras Art Association) for her fashion design. She is a member of the National Association of Hungarian Artists, MAOE (Magyar Alkotomuveszek Orszagos Egyesulete).
Her knitwear ranges from summery, delicate hand made knit lace, to heavy knit garments for winter. She has developed many innovative technological procedures to combine knit and woven fabrics, using her background in pattern cutting and couture tailoring skills next to her kntiwear. She loves to use luxury fibres and fabrics, such as silk and cashmere, and finds that the fabrics, knit yarns and experimentation will inspire her collection designs. Andrea always explores many possibilities to find new ways of using knit yarns and fabrics, to create original wearable garments with a theatrical twist. To achieve her vision she will collaborate with other companies, for instance she has designed unique, bespoke hand woven tweed with a Scottish textile company.
Andrea is working on her new ladieswear collection for Spring / Summer 2011. At the same time she is also working as a freelance designer and assistant alongside Penny Burdett and Alice Palmer, knitwear designers. Andrea also continues to take private commissions, in bespoke tailored eveningwear, couture garments and knitwear design.
In the future Andrea aims to continue to enjoy the process of fashion design through her couture label, to create for her own love of experimenting and exploring possibilities. She sees the art, creativity, texture, silhouette and fibre in her design as key, rather than making for transient fashion trends. She intends her labels designs to translate into wearable, yet unique and special pieces.
