Hello, I'm Rachel, founder of Bette Love. I've been into art and design since I was a kid and decided as an adult to go to uni where I studied fashion and gained my BA Hons in Fashion Design.

 

Upon graduation, I became involved with Gravesend Art Consortium (GAC) which was founded by fellow artist and friend Wendy Cottam whom I did my foundation year with at University. This was a 3-month project where Wendy and I bought together 33 local artists and gave them space in which to sell and demonstrate their work in Gravesend Borough Market.

 

Following on from GAC I immersed myself in the fashion world working as a stylist whilst taking commissions for bespoke pieces. It was during this process that I found myself more drawn to the design part, the fashion Illustration, so gradually pattern cutting and sewing began to take a back seat, and rather than taking bespoke commissions I decided to tutor others in art, which I still do to this day!

 

So eventually I dropped the production and styling side of fashion all together (I now only sew for fun) and attended weekend Fashion Illustration classes at Westminster Library to retune my art skills. Through this, I found my style and a lot of happiness.

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My current collection is titled 54, after the legendary night club Studio 54.  This collection is a mixture of childhood memories of the late 1970's  and lockdown loneliness. As I found myself reminiscing and dreaming one Saturday evening  whilst listening to music and as the songs were taking me away, I was imagining up performers dancing and singing to the songs, I was imagining everything, what the performer would be wearing, the location etc. It became like a promo video storyboard in my head.   So  I decided to put this to paper and paint the images of my imagination.  I now refer to the 54 collection as the 'Disco of my Imagination', but its more than that as some songs escape the Disco and take to the streets, each song is individual in how it influences me, and I go with what feel right and honest for me. 

 

Thank you for visiting Bette Love today, and I hope you enjoy taking a look around. If you have any questions please feel free to get in touch as I love hearing from you!

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Rachel x

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