FASHION NEWS: No Exceptions Made

I recently received an invitation to the launch of an exciting new new fashion label called No Exceptions Made, which is the inspiration of 24 year old Welsh designer, Emily McCarthy from Barry.

Emily's debut collection is inspired by her mediterranean roots and reflects her own quirky, laid back bohemian style. All the pieces are hand-printed and have a fresh, youthful and unique vibe to them and her love of the South American culture is clearly expressed in each item, along with her love of animals. Her dog 'Fletch' even appears on one of the bags.

Emily comes from a very creative and cultured background. Her father is a graphic designer and has a tailoring/textile background, so their combined passion for fine art and photography rubbed off on Emily from a young age. Every Christmas she would find a sketchbook and drawing pencils in her stocking, encouraging her to explore her own individual creativity and spill her thoughts and dreams onto paper. Her love of textiles and drawing soon became apparent and once finishing school she went to study fashion design at the University of South Wales before she trained in screen printing at PrintHaus - an art collective.  

For her exciting debut SS14 collection Emily took inspiration from places, textiles and travelling. She admires the work of Monica Patel-Cohn's collection called 'Two New York'. Her pieces are hand-woven, rustic and simple yet stylish and unique and designed for stepping straight onto the beach. Emily's eclectic collection is a fusion of South American and wild animal prints while packed full of bold, eye-catching prints and bright colours. 

Her youthful and vibrant debut collection launches on Sunday 23 March at Gwdihw and is part-funded by the University of South Wales - and I for one, cannot wait to check it out.

For subsequent collections Emily hopes to collaborate with a selection of up and coming Welsh illustrators and designers, but she is keeping their identities under wraps for now and will reveal all later in the year. 

Emily's dream is to take 'No Exceptions Made' to festivals around the UK to expand her customer basis and share her passion for the brand with a wider audience but her biggest ambition is to encourage more people to invest in unique, individual bespoke clothing....why blend in, when you can stand out from the crowd. 'We all deserve to feel special' is her motto and what a great motto to have. 

You can join her Facebook page at Facebook/Noexceptionsmade.com for more all the latest news and information on her brand and the launch of her website later this year.