Nadia Pinkney began her career at Herriot Watt University where she studied Fashion Womenswear. Nadia’s graduate project gave the young designer her first public recognition which was followed by several award nominations in Scotland.
Her first collection was inspired by Alzheimer’s disease and by two very important women in her life, her grandmothers, who suffered from this most common cause of dementia.
It is Nadia’s favourite collection as she said that: "there were no constraints so I think this collection truly reflects me as a designer."
Fashion has always interested Nadia and although she liked art, she found the design aspect more interesting and challenging for her. Despite this, Nadia’s hasn’t always dreamed to be in the fashion industry.
"When I was younger, I wanted to be a primary teacher, as I was and still am very interested in children and their development. However, just before applying to University, it dawned on me that if I did a teaching degree I would have spent my full life in school. I felt I wanted a different challenge and to experience life outside education, so I chose to do a degree in fashion design- a subject I thoroughly enjoyed at school."
After graduation, Nadia started her new job at Johnstons of Elgin, woollen mill, where she has worked as a design assistant for nearly four years now. Although she still works for JoE, the designer decided to start her own brand development on the side.
Not only workloads in two jobs but new designs create a challenge for Nadia.
“The first challenge is how I can design the narrative behind the collection into the garments themselves. This can take some time but it’s also a process of which I enjoy”.
Every design in Nadia’s collection is inspired by people where each item in her collection is part of a story that is told fully, when the collection is released.
"I am inspired by people and the lives they’ve led. A lot of creatives are inspired by places and concepts. For me, the people I meet are more interesting and influential than locations and objects. This approach can lead my developments and inspirations for garments through some unexpected turns, but it’s a process I enjoy working through."
Fabrication is another challenge as Nadia believes that: "a fabric can make or break a design." It takes a lot of time to source and eventually select fabrics she is happy to use.
"Although Scotland is great for heritage fabrics, it doesn’t offer much more than that so I often have to travel or order swatches online to build the fabric selection for a collection."
Nadia is trying to minimize fabric waste in her designs. Her brand fully supports sustainable fashion and she thinks designers should try and adapt their business model to a more eco-friendly approach. However, this is easier said than done so Nadia understands why for some designers it’s either not achievable or something that will take some time to do.
"I’m fortunate that my business has always run in a sustainable manner, I make to order, meaning I only order fabrics when orders come in for the product. In my latest design, the petals are cut from the scraps leftover from the fabric that the top was cut from."
As an emerging designer, Nadia regularly gets invited by several agencies offering all sorts of showcases.
"I’ve found that these are often very costly and hard to justify, especially for younger brands. As a result, I’ve chosen to partake in charity fashion events, these fundraisers not only give a platform to share work but also raise money for amazing charities."
The Edinburgh Charity Fashion Show is one of the events where Nadia received a lot of support for her designs which gave her the confidence to create her own online shop.
" There wasn’t a financial risk to create an online store but I was still nervous on how it would be received and if anyone would buy into the product." It was a huge step for Nadia's small business.
When I've asked about Nadia’s future plans, she said: "I try and not have too much of a plan because I’ve often found in this industry we never really follow it! At the moment, I am continuing to sell the “June” collection tops, through my online store and have started working on a new collection that will be launched later in the year/beginning of next."