INTERVIEW WITH DR LINDA

Eleni: A psychologist once told me of a connection between archaeology and psychology as both fields are based on the uncovering and understanding of the past before moving forwards can take place. What do you think of this notion? Are you a fan of archaeology yourself?

Linda: I am- I think we can learn a lot by looking back, we all need a sense of history, a sense of where we come in order to move forward and develop.

Eleni: What was your experience like being an ‘Amphipolis Muse’? What sort of relationship have you yourself always had with fashion?

Linda: A lot of fun! I have always loved fashion- I love the way interacts with our sense of identity and creativity and the show last month was a genuine pleasure to be a part of - the beautiful designs, the music, the narrative behind the concept it was like being in an art installation!

Eleni: You carried your book ‘Whose Life Is It Anyway?’ on the catwalk, a book that talks about adolescent women’s relationship with body image. You told me that you see fashion designers as having an instrumental role in our influence over young women’s psychology. As you know I moved away from the generic catwalk format of only using professional models, and incorporated you and Eleftheria. What do you think of my decision to do this? Has is made you think about how you would perhaps like to see the fashion industry operate differently? How would it affect women's psychology differently?

Linda: Anything that challenges the often monolithic and constraining ideals of femininity and beauty is welcome- this is an area that fashion has struggled with for years so seeing what you did by incorporating different feminine ideals of beauty was great. There is a lot of wonderful work happening in the fashion industry that I believe will have a more positive impact in the way we relate to it- All Walks Beyond the catwalk is doing some brilliant work in challenging the notions of what fashion and beauty mean- I think that the more we see young designers challenging the status quo the more likely we’ll be to see change in this area.