Final year project
Beat the Heat [Read more]
Lemon droplets
What does summer taste like? Is it sour or too sweet? Do you have enough bitterness in your life?
Anahata
Anahata is the heart chakra located in the centre of the chest. Do you have enough red in your life or too much? Are you at ease with your limitations? Do you need more love and joy in your life? Do you have fun in the sun or are you sensitive to light, sapped of energy?
Scaly-Brí
What seeds do you need to plan? Do you have a steady flow to maintain your mental, emotional, spiritual and physical vitality?
Colour cord
Is summer yellow? Do you need more power/movement or do you need stillness and patience? Can you hear the breeze?
Wholeness around
What aspects of your life are out of balance? Is late summer for the harvest, or do you need to let things develop a little longer?
Tropic blue
Can you smell the flowers? Do you need to cool your passions? Is it time to embrace it all and stand out?
Fabuloso / Glossom / Svectoire
Does the summer heat bother you? Can you take the heat or is it unbearable and overwhelming?
Final outfits and accessories illustrating several designs from Beat the Heat collection
All models are young women who wear or use the designs in multiple ways. There is a range of fashion products, from scarves to hair bands, hijabs and summer dresses. The visualisations promote the embracing of heat and its derivatives; the zest, freedom, happiness, energy, the carefree summer feeling!
Maria Hadjiantoniou
“Beat the Heat”, the fashion summer collection for 2020, is all about that carefree, summer feeling! The ideal and new experience for every young woman.
Being born and raised in a Mediterranean island, Cyprus, Maria aimed to apply some alluring characteristics -the sunshine, the vibrancy, the energy and joy, as well as the warmth and freshness of the hottest, yet best season of the year- which are directly related to what summer means to her. ‘Beat the Heat’ is an everlasting concept which as a textile designer, Maria was eager to develop. The theme of this fashion collection is evidently summer, but the concept arose from the idea of hot countries around the world, including the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, where the heat is unbearable. Thus, the materiality of the lightweight fabrics is symbolically chosen in order to provide the soft, light, airy and transparent property which ensures protection from the oppressive moist and atmospheric humidity during the long warm days in summer. In addition to the quality of fabrics, colour plays a vital role for this fashion collection. The selection of colours was inspired by the majestic tones of the sea, the freshly chopped lemons and the lively exotic indoor flowers and plants. Subsequently, the use of colours is applied on the designs in such a way that a harmonious balance between warm and cool colours is manifested to all final pieces. The blending, layering and opacity of colours has been attentively and deliberately used to avoid absorbing the heat coming from the sun while evincing the nourishing feeling and the taste of the cooling summer breeze that ‘beats the heat’.
Dissertation
Fashion & colour psychology: How does colour impact both, the designer and the consumer?
Final year project
Beat the Heat
Experience
As a student ambassador working at Loughborough University for 3 years, Maria has gained valuable skills which are truly essential for any working environment. This includes confidence, time management, perseverance, good work ethic, strategic planning and teamwork, as well as leadership. This experience was the key for developing Maria into a disciplined and unique individual.
Placements
July 2019 - August 2019
Summer Intern, Kitronik