| LA MEETS RP |

One thing's for sure when you discover a new brand or collection, you automatically want to know the person behind it all. So when the LA team snagged an invite to meet Rianna, we were stoked! On our hit list since the Manchester Spring Fashion Show back in 2012, the Rianna Phillips collection brings a fresh style of super-inspirational accessories to the spotlight. Now stocked on the LA website, we were sure to fall in love with the collection all over again after meeting the designer behind the brand!

 Home is...

Home is Manchester, but my sister lives in Australia so I do go over regularly. My Dad also lives on the outskirts of London so home is a bit scattered about to be honest.  

Three things you should know about me...
I’m a tutor at Manchester Metropolitan University, that’s something not a lot of people know. I’m totally obsessed with ice cream, at least once a week I go to Fredrick’s at the Chill Factor. I’ve been there for the last four weeks in a row; they pretty much know my name! The staff kind of go ‘Ummp’ when I get there. I used to spend a lot of time in the Lake District because my Aunty lives there; I had quite a lot of regular trips there when I was young. That’s another third/fourth home I guess.

My personal style is...
I absolutely love winter fashion, I design for summer but totally dress for winter. I’m a bit obsessed with buying digital print. I love to go to Harvey Nichols, find amazing digital prints not even just to buy, just to stare at and inspire me. I bought a pair of digitally printed trousers ages ago and I’ve not even worn them I just bought them to look at.

I started designing accessories because...
I really like that an accessory is just an oblong rectangle shape thing of artwork that you can just carry around with you. I will do clothes one day, but for now its accessories. When I design on Photoshop and I press new canvas, its an A4 piece of paper and I love designing to that exact shape.

My first collection was...

Very spikey! It was clothes for uni really that lead into making scarves. I did a collection of six or seven garments, with scarves to accompany each garment and one bag. I had an interview for Graduate Fashion Week to be on the catwalk, the judges made the model take the bag off because it was ‘offending her eyes.’  The poor model had to side step and put it down. The judge was like ‘that bag is horrendous’ but ever since then I really wanted to design bags, crazy really!

The inspiration behind the collection is...
Very Australia! I went over to Aus last year and visited a place called Crystal Castle in Byron Bay. It’s just beautiful; the whole town is the most inspirational place I’ve ever seen! Crystal Castle is on a hillside with massive crystals just like flung about anywhere. One of the scarves is just literally a print of a photograph I took, whilst sat chillin’ near the café.

It’s all to do with travel and landscape-very organic. I always do a running theme of organic and synthetic. That’s just something I continuously work too, I feel like it gets the most out of me. For this new range it’s very tribal and native, hence the name ‘New Age Native.’ Again its organic and synthetics, contrasting themes. 

I would love to see____ with a Rianna Phillips original because...
I know its so cliché but I’d love to see Lady Gaga with a Rianna Phillips original. She's off her head and I love that!

My favourite Lavish outfit is...