Eleanor and the Squirrel

"It was a peculiar looking thing that's for sure; I mean who dresses a squirrel in a gingham dress." Meet Eleanor, David Longshaw's latest creation. "I'd wanted that squirrel for so long that when my grandfather finally 'gave it' to me I couldn't really remember why I had lusted after it in the first place. All I could remember is that from the very first time I saw that strange squirrel I wanted it to be mine and was prepared to do anything to get it ." David Longshaw, studied Fashion Design at Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design BA (Hons) and at the Royal College of Art (MA). On graduating David moved to Italy to design for Alberta Ferretti, then Max Mara. After working in Italy Longshaw moved back to England to start his own fashion label. Winner of the inaugural BFC/ELLE Talent Launch Pad. David has been shortlisted for a wealth of awards and was named as one of the 'Designers to Watch 2011' by vogue.com and one of 'The Rising Stars of 2011' by ELLE. With not only a natural talent for fashion, but also for illustration (winner of the Colin Barnes Drawing Prize) he has contributed to a number of publications (including vogue.com, the LFW newspaper and many others) and uses his illustrations and story writing as a starting point for his collections. His characters include Maude the fabric fashion mouse (made originally by David whilst at St Martins) described by British Vogue as 'Longshaw's long standing cult creation.' He has also created 'Francesca & Arthur' a weekly comic strip for Vogue Italia (vogue.it) and a number of animations for LOVE magazine.