The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2023 - Issue 33

Matthew Hegarty utilised his fashion photography degrees with design to create sustainable outerwear brand Hegarty London for men and women. Cristina Lloyd learns about the fashion designer and his concepts. bitefashion A s a photographer and now de- signer with a BA and an MA in Fashion Photography from the London College of Fash- ion, UAL (University of the Arts London), Matthew Hegarty has an eye for intricate details. During his studies, he honed his fashion design and pattern-cutting skills. He’s created photographic fine art pieces for River Island, collaborated with Mark Ronson and Frida Giannini for a Gucci pop-up store, and done photography for Vogue, Elle, Tatler, De Beers, Moss Bros, Kurt Geiger, and Amazon Fashion. “My work is always conceptually con- structed,” he said. “It is always staged. It is a realistic portrayal of a staged real- ity. Everything is worked out in advance [and] then put together to articulate the preconceived idea for the creation of the photograph.” While starting as a fashion photographer, he revealed he’s always had an eye on clothes and fashion. “I felt in my core that making fashion was something I really had to do creatively,” he told Fibre- 2Fashion . It was after Matthew became interested in photography at school at age 16 he wanted to be a fashion photographer and work in fashion. “At that time, I was already look- ing at fashion magazines, trends and cine- ma,” he said in an interview with UAL, for whom he is an alumnus. “Films helped me a lot in fashion. I loved how cinema depict- ed costume from period films [through] to contemporary fashion.” He added light- ing helps, and he can’t get enough of films with a fashion and cinematography bias.