Davina Hawthorne is currently MA Fashion and Textiles Programme Lead, Senior Lecturer at De Montfort University, Leicester. Fashion and Textiles MA
BIO
Davina started her design career as a pattern cutter and designer for the high street market, working for brands such as H&M and River Island. Here she gained a commercial eye and a technical understanding of high street fashion. She later enrolled on the Central St Martins MA Design for Textile Futures course (now MA Material Futures). Davina’s MA research titled ‘Perceptions of Beauty’ focussed on diverse and inclusive bodies within fashion, while her textile designs explored the subtle changes and beauty within the surface of the skin. Her MA accumulated into a ‘flat pack’ adaptable garment which could be peeled open to different body shapes and sizes and was granted a UK patent.
In 2002 Davina received the Clerkenwell Green Award to set up her own design studio in Clerkenwell, London. In the same year Orsola De Castro selected Davina’s work to showcase at Esthetica, which was the first ethical fashion showcase within London Fashion Week. Davina designed from her studio for ten years and during her time in the East End created small collections and one off upcycled bespoke pieces for individual clients. Other freelance projects include - A wallpaper installation in collaboration with Wilson Associates at Downtown Design in Dubai and ‘Green is the new Black’ Altaroma / British Embassy group exhibition at Villa Wolonsky and at La Rinascente in Rome to name a few.
Davina is a FACE (Fashion and the Arts Creating Equity) Council member and recently collaborated with FACE academic members and the Horniman Museum to curate FACE X Horniman - Hair: Untold Hair Stories an online exhibition that explores personal narratives attached to hair from Black, Brown and Asian perspectives within the UK. FACE X Horniman - Hair: Untold was later exhibited in a physical space at Kent University in March 2024. About 1 — FACE
Davina champions sustainable practice through cultural, social, political, economic and environmental context. Her work has been featured in numerous books and magazines such as the Observer, Financial Times, You Magazine, Sublime, Ecologist,100 ideas that changed fashion, Colour in Fashion, Textile Cloth and Culture.