Meet Amy Austin, The Creative Mind Behind Edgy Jayd Collection.
Edgy Jayd Collection, founded by Amy Austin in 2021, is a fashion brand dedicated to creating bold and inclusive designs for festivals, red carpets, and everyday statement pieces. Known for their sustainable practices and custom-fit options, Edgy Jayd Collection embodies confidence, creativity, and conscious fashion.
What inspired you to create Edgy Jayd Collection, particularly focusing on holographic and festival fashion?
I’ve always looked at clothing in high street stores and never felt inspired. Right from a young age, I used to say ‘one day, I’ll have my own clothing brand’ – I wanted to make clothes that weren’t available anywhere else. As I reached my teens, I hated how clothes didn’t fit my body shape, they were always too loose at the waist or too tight elsewhere. So my vision for a clothing brand morphed into wanting a brand that catered for different body shapes by offering custom sizing. While studying fashion design at college, I also discovered how the fashion industry needs to be more sustainable and ethical, so my desire to not harm the Earth or people further shaped my vision for a sustainable, handmade to order brand.
I always want to stand out and I enjoy being noticed for my outfits. Plain fabric just isn’t eye catching enough for me, and I set out to find a fabric that was special. The holographic fabric I use in many of my designs is one of my favourite fabrics and I love that it is made from recycled polyester, resulting in less plastic polluting the oceans. It is very different from what other brands offer as I also design the holographic prints to create unique pieces. Another stunning fabric that adds to the Edgy Jayd aesthetic is the shimmer fabric; it has a two tone effect that catches the light, creating a fluid look. I particularly love festival fashion, even though I’m not a festival goer. Everyone in the community is very accepting of others and welcome experimental, unique clothing because the ultimate aim of fashion at festivals is to stand out in your outfit! This really fitted the brand I wanted to create, so although I didn’t know what a festival was like in person, I knew the fashion side of it was for me.
Could you walk us through your design process when creating holographic clothing and festival/rave outfits? How do you ensure your pieces stand out?
I’d say I’m quite an unconventional designer, but I generally think about what styles would be cute, flattering and different while I’m sewing my existing designs, as this is usually when the best ideas happen. Once I have a few ideas in mind, I sketch them out digitally to help me visualise how they would be constructed from fabric. I generate new patterns and size them with the ability to adapt for different body shapes, bra cup sizes and heights. Samples are fit tested on both mannequins and people, with any adjustments made to the pattern if needed.
I also design all the holographic prints digitally; they need to be unique and also fit with the aesthetic of the Edgy Jayd brand. To be sure my designs stand out, I always aim for boldness – whether that’s bright colours, bold prints, eye-catching shimmer fabrics, or daring cuts.
Wherever possible, I react to customer requests to influence designs and this usually revolves around body insecurities. I’m often asked for ‘more outfits with sleeves’ or ‘hiding tummy outfits’. As a result, some of our range is designed specifically for the needs of customers who want to feel confident in themselves and feel good in their own skin, but struggle because of insecurities. Being able to create clothing to help people feel confident is truly the best feeling! There’s nothing better than receiving a message saying ‘I literally cried when I tried on my Edgy Jayd outfit because of how confident it made me feel, thank you Amy’.
We also like to stand out for being as sustainable as possible. We use recycled, recyclable or biodegradable materials, from the garment fabric, right through to packaging. The garments are handmade to order in our UK-based studio to ensure there is no fabric wastage or unwanted stock.
Who is Edgy Jayd Collection’s typical customer, and how do you cater to their style preferences with your collections?
Our typical customer is someone who wants to stand out from the crowd in an outfit that can’t be purchased anywhere else. Typically a customer is buying for a festival, rave, party or special event. As well as the main stream collection, we offer an alternative range, including gothic styles. More recently, we launched a Couture Collection, for red carpet or prom events, with beautifully flowing, floor length dresses in shimmering fabric. I also take commissions for bespoke outfits during our quieter months, so customers can have exactly the look they want, that’s made to measure too.
Instagram followers have an input on new collections and what they’d like to see, so I’m also able to design with their needs in mind. We offer low and medium coverage outfits, with a wide range of styles, so there’s something for everyone.
Can you highlight some of the signature pieces or collections that best represent Edgy Jayd Collection’s aesthetic and vision?
Our signature piece has to be the Floaty Playsuit which is designed to look like a skater dress, with full cut shorts that flare from the waist, creating a very flattering figure. This style has gone viral on multiple occasions on both Instagram and TikTok, racking up a total of over 6 million views and setting trends within festival fashion. It genuinely looks incredible on every body shape and has been bought and worn by sizes 2-32, 4’8″ to 6’4″ and AA-K bra cup with excellent feedback!
Another viral style is the V-Neck Babydoll Dress which I designed to help people who suffer from painful bloating. It flows from under the bust, over the waist and hips so it doesn’t restrict and increase discomfort. The bust is adjustable meaning you can choose how tight to wear it. This style has gained over 11 million views on Instagram and has been a massive hit with people who suffer from painful bloating.
These pieces are just a couple of examples of the edgy outfits we offer, which can be made in any of our eye-catching fabrics. Anyone wearing Edgy Jayd can feel more confident than ever, both to stand out from the crowd and feel comfortable in their own body.
Do you offer customization options for your customers, especially for your couture dresses? How do you engage with your clientele during the design process?
We offer sizing customisation on all garments in the Edgy Jayd Collection at no extra cost, and we also take minor customisations on appearances such as length and coverage. These requests can be placed at the time of the order on the website and, as standard procedure, we are in regular contact with customers to finalise measurements and requirements prior to the garment entering the production process.
The Couture Collection is a very new release and we are expecting additional requests for customisation on the garments in this range. I welcome requests to make bespoke outfits for special events, but this is usually outside of our busy festival season.
How does Edgy Jayd Collection contribute to or engage with the festival and rave community? What values or philosophy does your brand embody?
We have a large faithful following on social media and because of this we are able to engage with ravers and festival goers about Edgy Jayd core values such as sustainability and inclusivity.
So many people are excited to find us on social media, especially when they feel their voice is heard in the designs I create. I feel that Edgy Jayd has an important space in the festival community, to allow festival goers to feel confident in themselves with clothes that flatter their shape. I am an advocate of body acceptance and positivity so I actively promote this through my platforms.
Edgy Jayd has a tight community, with our social media platforms often being two way interactions. The community is lovely and so supportive of our small business brand and people love to tag us so we can see them at their special event in one of our outfits. It is especially heart-warming to see customers have met by chance at an event and taken photos in their outfits as a group!
Wider than this we’ve participated in festivals, for example, this year we collaborated with Lost Minds Festival, providing exclusive designs for merchandise.
What can we expect from Edgy Jayd Collection in the near future? Any upcoming collections or collaborations you can share with us?
We will be dropping another three unique shimmer fabrics over the coming summer months, and then I’ll be starting the design process for the 2025 launches!
We are very excited to announce that Edgy Jayd will soon be featuring in the Flying Solo press room in New York, where our garments will be available for celebrity appointments and stylist pulls for editorial placements and photoshoots. Flying Solo showcases small designers from around the world and we can’t wait to see where this leads.
Edgy Jayd Collection recently joined the list of bronze sponsors for this year’s prestigious National Reality TV Awards, as the Official sponsor for Best Female Personality category. How excited are you to partner with the National Reality TV Awards?
We are extremely excited to be sponsoring the Best Female Personality Award at this year’s event! It is the first time we have been invited to do anything like this and the team at the TV Awards have been so helpful guiding us through what is needed at each stage. We are really looking forward to the event and are very grateful for the opportunity.
For more information on Edgy Jayd Collection, visit: https://www.edgyjayd.com/
Social Media Handles:
- Instagram: @edgyjayd, @edgyjayd.altgoth, @edgyjayd.couture
- TikTok: @edgyjayd_, @edgyjayd.altgoth, @edgyjayd.couture
The 13th annual National Reality TV Awards returns to London on the 31st of July at the Porchester Hall, London. Check out the NRTA website to stay up to date with all latest updates.
