TIME travel makes most of us think of spaceships, but for fashion designer Alina Stanila it is the beginnings of a dress.

Her collection of knitted dresses was inspired by 1962 French science fiction short film La Jetée.

The Wallingford-based designer’s creations went on show at London’s Graduate Fashion Week.

The showcase has been the launchpad for a wealth of gilttering fashion names, including Stella McCartney, Giles Deacon and Julien Macdonald.

Miss Stanila, 28, said: “It took over six months to make the collection. There were endless hours to create them in a way that is wearable. Usually knitwear is very baggy and I really tried to make them fitted.

“Having it showcased at Graduate Fashion Week means a lot to me. All my hard work has paid off.”

She took her inspiration from La Jetée’s stark imagery, which is almost entirely made up of still black and white photographs.

She said: “Each garment was individually engineered to create a story told through the clothes about the past, present and future.

“Every piece of fabric was made individually and linked together. If you’re up close you will see there is a miniscule outline along the outside of each triangle of fabric.”

Ms Stanila, originally from Romania, is a fashion and textile student at University of West London.

She is now applying for MA courses in fashion, and hopes to develop another clothing collection next year.

She said: “If I make another collection it will be very different, I want to move on to something else.

“We are surrounded by technology these days and making things is very simple. But there is so much waste in making clothes. I want to reinvent how we make things so there is an impact. It will mean people will appreciate clothing more.

“I started designing when I was about six. I would make bits of jewellery out of next to nothing, whatever I could find, and then I moved on to clothing.”

More than 1,000 graduates had their work shown at Graduate Fashion Week, which ran from Saturday, May 31, to Monday at the Old Truman Brewery in London.

Our top stories: