Photo Credit: Katy Charlton
Tyesha Camacho is a twenty-year-old graduate at the University for the Creative Arts, where she has studied printed textiles in fashion. Tyesha specialises in menswear and creates extraordinary designs with streetwear elements.
The designer believes that both Art and Textiles in GCSE and A-Level encouraged her to develop and express a creative side of her character. “One of my Textile teachers said I would make the craziest of things. I remember I have printed onto plastic forks.”
Tyesha never liked following the crowd while designing. She wants to think out of the box and every time tries to design something no one seen before.
“I went to a different university for my first year and found that they have pushed all students to fulfill a certain mould that I didn’t want to be in. I wanted to be able to do more crazy things before I start working in the industry and have to do commercial things.”
For the graduate project, Tyesha created the brand CAMAT. The name is the combination of her first and second name.
The latest collection, REDEFINE, is focusing on redefining negative stereotypes of ‘urban areas’. “I would put urban in quotes because I personally feel the word has negative connotations. It’s just another way of calling it poor. In this collection I wanted to showcase the parts I find amazing such as the graffiti, architecture and the people.”
The collection is also focusing on different genres of music in the UK, such as rap, grime, change and drill.
For Tyesha, “rap is a celebration of an inclusive genre with the growing number of female rappers. Grime is an infusion of different genres coming together to form one easily recognisable. Change is about showcasing the different uses for music such as political agendas and drill is showcasing the positive out of the negative due to the negative association the genre has.”
Tyesha’s graduate collection was also inspired by police uniforms and London architecture to showcase the relationship between the music genres and opposing, supportive forces.
While working on new designs, Tyesha starts by creating a mind map with all of the ideas she could think of and after looks into the visual imagery. “I love merging different ideas together as I never want to be limited to just one, even if it doesn’t seem like they go together. I always try and find a way.”
Tyesha believes that everyone needs a creative break sometimes. "One day you can have no idea what you want to do and next day they hit you out of nowhere." To find some inspirations designer looks at work of other creatives and current DIY ideas at the apps such as Instagram and TikTok.
“I think exploring an idea you like produces amazing results, if you like fruit then paint some fruit or make a 3D model or collage paper together to resemble it. You can do anything as random or crazy as it seems!”
After talking to Tyesha the main thing you realize is that fashion has no limits, so as your imagination and abilities.
The prints in the REDEFINE collection are graphic and expressive, as well as the graffiti at the urban areas. “I created my prints by taking pictures of related imagery. I draw either parts of the image or line drawings to have elements from the original picture. I even used the image itself on Photoshop to collage and layer imagery together until I get something I like.”
Tyesha never plans her prints. She tries to combine different images together and watch how it turns out. “The real challenge is to combine different prints together to form an outfit.”
Tyesha’s University provided opportunities to collaborate with other creative students. “It has been amazing and fun considering we all contribute and fulfill our visions.”
“However, I have done this only for the experiences not because I have wanted to. I do not enjoy being exploited for no credit for someone else’s vision”, adds Tyesha.
The designer believes there are a lot of issues within the fashion industry. One of them is unpaid internship. Every person deserves to be paid for the work they’ve done. Unfortunately, it is not the case for many work experiences.
“For smaller business who cannot afford to pay they should not ask for anything more than one day a week but they usually ask for 30 hours a week. It is wrong, considering they are not paying for anything.”
“I was trying to juggle an unpaid internship and a part time job, both were unreasonable about my hours. The internship only covered travel but was a long process to be reimbursed. I could hardly afford to travel to as it was peak hours in central London."
One day Tyesha woke up to a message at 6am asking to come into Central London, then go to a seamstress and fabric shop, come back to the studio and stay until 6pm.
“I replied to them that I am not coming back. These companies need the help from fashion students but treat them as if they are doing us a favour and then exploit us.”
Tyesha wants to change the way big companies copy graduates and other small businesses as well as the lack of racial diversity. “It’s shocking that even your name can stop you from being employed.”
During the lockdown Tyesha was looking for inspirations on TikTok, collaborating with creative friends and trying new things. “I just allow myself to do any and every idea that comes to mind. Even if it doesn’t work, at least I tried.” Tyesha is referring to the garments she was trying to make for herself another day.
The designer likes the learning process and she is ready to explore more things within the fashion industry.
“In the future, I really want a design role in menswear, but also I want to develop CAMAT in my spare time and maybe one day make it a full-time.”