Profile: Lea Carreno

by Malgorzata Stankiewicz

Mellow music is serenely pouring from the speakers and a delicately scented candle fills the room with a floral fragrance.

I meet Lea Carreno at John Rocha’s Dover Street boutique, where she currently works part-time.

Wearing a simple, black knitted dress with exaggerated shoulders and a pair of ballerina-inspired, powder pink flats, Carreno looks understatedly à la mode. 

This comes as no surprise since Carreno, 26, is a graduate of two of the most prestigious fashion colleges in the country: Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art.

Originally from Norwich, Carreno moved to London in 2001 to pursue her dream career in fashion.

Ever since, not only has she obtained a Bachelor of Arts and a Master degree in knitwear design, but also worked for renowned fashion houses, including Pringle of Scotland and Tommy Hilfiger.

Most recently, her works have been exhibited at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum as a part of Future Fashion Now: New Design from the Royal College of Art exhibition.

The four pieces on display in the museum are part of Carreno’s MA graduate collection, which has been praised by the press: “Though bound as a cohesive whole through design aesthetic, the pieces bring a sense of originality to the collection. Blending sheik jackets with flirty dress, Lea Carreno wastes no time making her way to the spotlight.”

Hard Work Pays

Carreno, who currently lives in North London, recalls: “I decided to move to London in order to study fashion at Central Saint Martins. I knew I’d have a better chance to get into the fashion industry with a degree from CSM.”

And so, she applied for a Foundation Studies in Art and Design course, which she “didn’t find hard to get into” but admits that “ there was a lot of pressure during that year as everyone worried they wouldn’t get into the BA.”

Having put her skills into practice and following the suggestions from her tutors, Carreno applied for a BA Fashion degree, were she chose the Fashion Design with Knitwear pathway. For the next four years, she trained in knitwear design and between her second and final year, she was offered a nine-month work experience placement at Pringle of Scotland.

During that time, she had assisted the womenswear designer and eventually became employed by the company. Looking back, Carreno describes the placement as a fantastic learning oppurtunity. She says: “I have learnt a lot and it was just when Pringle was rebranding to a more trend-orientated label so it was a good period to be there. Also, I became employed and started earning money, which allowed me to go for holidays across South America.”

Later, that trip would heavily influence her final-year graduate collection, which featured Mexico-inspired vivid colors, simple shape and especially shoulder heavy embroidery.

After graduating from CSM, Carreno applied for a Master’s degree course at the Royal College of Art. Despite having enjoyed her time at CSM, she decided not to continue studying at the college as “it was really badly funded and the facilities weren’t the best. A lot of machinery didn’t work and I found it very frustrating.”

At RCA, on the other hand, there were a lot of paid competitions which students could enter, and this was how Carreno ended up funding her course she would not have been able to afford otherwise.

Uni life to haute couture

During her first year at RCA, Carreno was awarded a prestigious Kay Cosserat Award and the following year she was named the winner of Framework Knitters Award. She admits that studying at RCA was a very different experience from studying at Central Saint Martins.

“For the first time, I felt like a real student. At CSM everyone is coming and going, but here the studios were open till midnight so people generally stayed in a studio and mixed with a lot of different students from various courses.”

During the final year of the MA degree at RCA , students are often approached by fashion designers and houses from all over the world – including MaxMara, Burberry, Missoni and Tommy Hilfiger. After various interviews she received two separate job offers; the first was a six-month paid placement at Italian luxury knitwear label Missoni, the second was a permanent contract with American design house, Tommy Hilfiger.

She chose the latter as it offered a more commercial experience. Soon after her graduate show Carreno moved to Amsterdam to commence her employment with Hilfiger. Initially it meant assisting a designer responsible for the knitwear range, but in the end it was her who led the team.

Earlier this year she decided to move back to London, which she greatly missed while away. ­­­­She has since worked for Alice Lee, a knitwear brand famous for its collaborations with cutting-edge designers like Giles Deacon and admits that: “I still would like to work for different designers before I start my own label as you can gain a lot of experience, especially business-wise. I really admire French designer Sonia Rykiel. Her designs are commercial and fun but made using beautiful fabrics and beautiful yarns.” Another designer for whom Carreno would wish to work for is Italian luxury label Prada, as “they use interesting yarns and, above all, invent their own processes of creating fabric.”

Looking back at her years at CSM, Carreno admits that she found the college “a bit unfriendly,” but then adds: “I did meet some amazing people there who remain my friends until this day” like her friend Kelly, who she went to South America with. It was during those holidays, when together they had planned on starting their own company.

Three years on, and it seems like this distant dream might materialise sooner than expected as Carreno and Kelly are currently working on creating a capsule collection which would reflect their individual styles. “We started by doing individual research. Our plan is to propose various themes for the collection and then refine it. When we studied , traveled and lived together, we had very similar tastes. Now, however, we spend more time apart and have worked in different companies so our work and tastes have been shaped by this.”

Having said that, she looks at her watch and realizes it is just after 6pm, when the boutique closes. Our time appears to be over. But before I go she adds: “I enjoy knitting as it allows you more creativity, you can build the fabric as you go along.” Which is what Carreno has been doing for the past eight years; building an impressive portfolio and a promising career within the  fashion industry.

 See also: Getting to know you: Lea Carreno