Ann Marie Kirkbride

My Research

I am a practice-based researcher, with interests in fashion and diversity, currently working on bringing together fashion and the older consumer for mutual benefit. I have presented/exhibited my work at conferences including the British Society of Gerontology’s 47^th Annual Conference:  Ageing in an unequal world (2018), and Futurescan 4; Valuing Practice (2019).

My Interests

For me, fashion is not just about clothes, but also the person who wears them, and I draw my own creative inspiration from their stories. Drawing is at the root of my understanding of the person, their fashion, and the design problems to be solved, so my practice is built around this. I prefer to work from life, and with a range of muses, learning from their experiences of fashion and interpreting this to develop my own creative work. I am interested in fashion as an interface between the person and the outside world, and as a vehicle to carry messages and meaning, so I choose to work with muses that are characterful and disrupt existing fashion ideals.  My current muse is in her 70s and my most recent work aims to raise her visibility within the fashion community. 

I enjoy working with students to help them find and develop their own fashion motivations and voices. I also work with our industrial partners on live projects that support students’ professional and portfolio skills development, aligned to their individual career goals.

Areas of Expertise

As a creative practitioner, my area of expertise is built around 2D portfolio skills, in particular drawing, but with a teaching career spanning 3 decades, this has evolved to encompass trend, knitwear design, enterprise and marketing. My specialism is fashion illustration.

My Industrial Experience

Alongside my teaching career I worked freelance in trend, promotional knitwear design and fashion illustration for a range of clients including Elementi Moda, Dewhirst (M & S), Gaeltarra knitwear, and Slazenger. I also worked with the regional creative industries, supporting the business up-skilling of Fashion & Textiles based SMEs. I exhibit my illustration work nationally.