fantasy old factory: TFS: T Lo Interviews Laura

Laura, were you surprised with the outcome of this episode?
I was pretty shocked by the outcome. It took quite a while for it to actually sink in. “Is this really happening?”

You mentioned that you felt like everyone was ganging up on you. In what way?
I was talking to another reporter today and saying that it was one of those classic bad communication scenarios where a person will have something to say but is sort of a little fucked up and cautious of the other person and doesn’t say it for a while, and then becomes frustrated that they haven’t said anything and by the time they do say something, they’re yelling. It all comes out in a rush. And then people get upset and it goes downhill from there. That’s probably how things ended up the way it did.

Do you think the decision to send you home was all about the red tulle?
Not really. I feel that it had a lot to do with drama value and people value. When I’m around people I don’t enjoy very much I just stop talking and I don’t have that loud of a voice but there were a lot of people on there that were just natural

ly loud all the time. When I feel there isn’t a chance for me to talk, I don’t. I think I just didn’t have a lot of energy and I think that probably influenced them quite a bit.

For a show that’s all about teamwork, we feel like it’s not quite there, right?
Yeah, our second teamup we – yeah, our communication did not work well.

Did you agree with the judges’ critique or do you feel that it was too harsh?
I feel like a lot of the critiques on shows like this are sort of dramatized. I’ve had to receive a lot of criticism, I’ve had to give a lot of criticism and it’s usually best when it’s straightforward but to say that a person look homeless or whatever, it doesn’t really make sense. It’s sort of arbitrary but y’know, it’s dramatic.

You said that a socialite wouldn’t normally be the kind of client you would have. Did you feel like you couldn’t connect with the client?
I didn’t really know very much about her and we didn’t get a chance to research her and there wasn’t really any background information provided, so it’s like, if you knew about her you had quite a bit of a head start. But all I really saw of her was exactly what was on the air so it’s like you sort of have an idea but not enough to base a complete design on because it’s sort of a complicated thing because whenever you’re designing a product, it’s extremely important to know exactly who it’s for and not having that information makes it very difficult to work from and something that I’m not at all used to.

So you guys didn’t get a portfolio or a design brief?

No, I wish we would have. It might have been a lot easier to go, “Oh, Okay. I see what kind of things she’s interested in.” She’s fashionable, that much was obvious, but is she trend-forward? Is she right smack in the mainstream? There was just so much information that wasn’t there.

We did like the top of your dress but we really didn’t like the red tulle. Do you stand by your design completely?
I actually would have liked to get rid of the red tulle and keep it all black but I was told that she didn’t like things that were all black and I was trying to find a way to do something for evening and also to mix in a little bit of color, which is sort of a weird request. The other thing was that because we were working on such a budget, the only tulle that was available was in that color and that really put the nail in the coffin on the whole thing.

Do you feel you gained anything from this experience?
I hope so. It’s really difficult to tell based on where I am in my career. I have quite a few clients who love what I do, like, the fall collection was received really well, so it’s sort of difficult to tell how much things were propelled by this experience and how much would have happened anyway.

You have a lot of experience designing for musicians, like Scissor Sisters. Is that kind of your “thing?”
I have always known quite a few musicians; I have quite a lot of friends in that industry. If I have a celebrity client, it’s almost always a musician.

Tell us a little bit about your line. Is it called Laura Dawson?
Yes it is and it’s on lauradawson.com. Obviously, I love the line. It’s fun; it’s playful; it’s very organic. The design is innovative; it’s always of high quality. I had people come up to me in London and tell me that they purchased things in New York or California and it’s like their favorite thing and that they wear it to death and where can they get more, and that’s exactly what I want to get out of it. That’s how I feel about a great product when I have it. Something that’s a great design, should be something that you almost have to smack your hand away from going for it every single day out of your closet. It should also push the boundaries of what you expect. It should give you more than you’d had before.

How would you describe your style?
It’s a fusion between innovative, trustworthy and high quality. It's dependable.

Thank you so much, Laura.
Thank you.

Laura Dawson's designs: