Set Designer Emma Roach Can Immerse Viewers into any World

Photo: Juergen Teller via Emma Roach

Many people never think about the people who work behind-the-scenes in the fashion industry but the truth is there are a lot of people that make sure fashion shows and campaigns look good and go smoothly.

Set designers are underrated professionals who bring brands visions to life. A set designer is a person that creates the background or environment for stages, tv shows or in this case, fashion shows and photoshoots. They create these sets in order to match the vision of the designer's current collection and immerse viewers in the world that the designer creates. A set designer has to imagine a scene, environment or background. Like other designers, they often convey their ideas into sketch form with mood boards and references and include floor plans of where the set will be and a layout of everything. Once the sketches are fully approved and looked at by the fashion designer, they create 3D renderings of the set.  

Photo: Emma Roach

Set designer Emma Roach does just that. Emma is a set designer from Britain who primarily works within the fashion industry. She is the founder of Emma Roach Studio in London, a studio that she started in 2007 that specializes in set design, installations, prop making and styling. The studio works with not only the fashion industry but also movies and film. She has worked with many brands such as Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton as well as several magazines. She has a background in art, with her studying sculpture and painting in college, which is something that has influenced her later set work. After she graduated, she was an assistant to stylists and other set designers such as Shona Heath before she became a set designer and prop stylist herself. 

Photo: Emma Summerton via Emma Roach

For her work, she also often draws inspiration from David Lynch films and 70s art, photography and music. In an interview with Dazed, the set designer said, “...I didn't even know this type of career existed. I came from an art background, I studied Sculpture and Painting, after graduating I spent a couple of years assisting stylists such as Sarah Richardson. Through that I came across art direction for which I felt was more suited and moved on to working with Shona Heath for three years, which was quite incredible…Most of my references point from art, music, anything 70s. I have an obsession with film, I love Cassavetes and David Lynch's sets are incredible, simple, I like awkwardness.”

i-D magazine shoot featuring model Kaia Gerber Photo: Willy Vanderperre via Streeters

Set designers like Emma Roach are important to the industry at large. They make sure the sets for campaigns and shows look their best and match the vision and theme of the brand’s collection. People do not want to see a simple white background when they are looking at a photo or seeing a show, they want to be fully immersed in whatever experience or world the photo or show conveys. The fashion industry has many facets to it and it is important that the people that are creating behind the scenes are getting the recognition they deserve.