Francis Ames

Francis Ames is an energetic and enthusiastic lady who just graduated from her Bachelor Fashion Design at ArtEZ University of the Arts (June 2017, Arnhem, The Netherlands).

With her collection ‘Is That All There Is?’ she aims to add an unrestrained and vivid design language to the current men’s image, by focussing at the costume history of the circus and therefrom extract the goofiness and outspoken shapes. Shape is important to her: ‘If a design would be completely done in white raw cotton, it should still be interesting in my opinion. Colours and prints should be there to add extra value. So it comes down to finding a good balance between outspoken shapes, colours and well tailored clothing.

The collection consists of a variety of materials, which gives the playful and nonchalant effect to the collection. A clear principle, which is often repeated, in shape as well as in print, is the ‘marbling’ technique. She has used the original technique: a tub filled with specially made groundwater to which small paint droplets are added to create a pattern. Then the fabric is laid down on the groundwater and the print adheres to the fabric. As a result of using the marbling technique as a starting point for her designs, Francis had the honour to collaborate with the Dutch ‘Textiel Museum’ (Tilburg, The Netherlands). With this collaboration she transformed her marbling prints into 3D woven fabric. This resulted in a rich looking fabric by using several types of yarn in many different colours. ‘Collaborating with the Textiel Museum was an amazing experience and great opportunity for me and I’m really thankful for that!’