Faces of Fashion - Liss Cooke

April 11, 2019 Editorial Team

Liss Cooke : Head Embroidery Designer at Mary Katrantzou

What inspired you to get into fashion?

I always had a deep interest in fashion and art and during my school years- my art teacher, Mr Truman really inspired me to want to pursue a creative career. A lot of it though was really just through my own investigation- I started to become obsessed with buying and collecting Elle Magazines and watching (TV show) Project Runway and this was really what fuelled my aspirations.

Which designers do you admire?

I have always hugely admired Elsa Schiaparelli. She was popular during the 30’s and 40’s for her amazing surrealist fashion pieces. Many of her pieces included incredible embroidery surface designs, highly embellished pieces and intricate trims and finishes. Today, it would have to be Mary Katrantzou - I am constantly in awe at the incredible things that we get create. I feel incredibly lucky that I get to work somewhere so creative and really push my skills as an embroidery designer working on such stunning pieces.

What are your top career highlights so far?

Winning Fashion and Textiles Nottingham Young Creative Award whilst at Nottingham Trent University based on my own designed and embroidered jewellery
Completing my Masters degree and getting to exhibit my work for a second time at ‘New Designers’ in London- a huge annual exhibition that showcases the best of graduate work within textiles from all over the country
Achieving my dream job as an Embroidery Designer at Mary Katrantzou and so far being part of 2 fashion week collections
Getting to design the embroidery for an outfit for Beyoncé that she wore to the Global Citizen Festival in South Africa

What does the future have in store for you?

In the future, I would really love to move closer to family and to one day have my own embroidery design studio. I would love to work on freelance projects and also become a lecturer in technology at local textiles courses around the UK. But for now, I am definitely loving all the amazing experience I am gaining, and excited to see what opportunities may come my way.