I met Daniel by chance a few weeks ago after moving down to London. Sitting on my roof terrace having a beer, I was greeted by my new neighbours and got chatting. After hellos we began talking about work and was blown away by Daniel's Fashion Design in Menswear. I'd never seen anything that resembles the shapes that Daniel had created. The striking block colours used in his new collection got me itching to collaborate and show the world his work. Visually intrigued, I wanted to know more about his influences and the concepts behind his work, so we got together for a really expensive lemonade and indulged in his portfolio so far.....

Daniel Yuste is a 26 year old Menswear Designer from Barcelona, Spain. Currently living in London, Daniel has just completed a Masters Degree in Fashion Design Menswear at LCF and was selected to show at London Fashion Week 2014. Daniel's collection has been all over the press and featured by the likes of HungerTV and Fucking Young Magazine but I wanted to know more than just the aesthetics, I had a feeling that there was a lot more to Daniel's work than just zips and sleeves...

Whilst being back home, just before starting his Masters, Daniel visited a flea market on the streets of Madrid. Wandering the market with a friend, Daniel found something that day that would fuel his progression in design and what would take over his life for the next few years, whether he knew it at the time or not.

Sitting on a guy's stall at the market was a beetle housed in a glass display case. Daniel tells me that he couldn't resist purchasing the well presented insect and felt a great attraction to its colours. He returned to London with his purchase and sat it on his desk. After starting his MA and trying to work out where to go with his design work, he stopped for a moment and analysed the insects features. This is where Insectivore was born.

Daniel tells me that his collection Insectivore has evolved from an in-depth study of the mechanics and structure of the beetle. He has taken such an extraordinary avenue when it comes to research for a collection, but everything about his designs refers to a characteristic and advancement of the beetle's DNA. By applying his interest into this small insect, his garments have been stitched together not just for aesthetic qualities, but have also been made to protect the wearer - just as a beetle has evolved its shell to do so.

Everything about this collection comes from the study of the beetle. The unusual shapes Daniel has created within the jackets have been taken from the insect's form. The block colours and limited colour palette represent one particular type of beetle - the Blue Ground Beetle. Even by studying the properties of how beetles control light has been incorporated into fabric choices.

A key characteristic for a beetle's form is protection. This was the starting point for a deep research into which fabrics Daniel would use to create garments to represent his influence. Daniel went on to say; the beetles main function is protection and thats how they survive, my work is aesthetics sportswear, fabrics are for performance and structure. Depending on how you match the materials, is the image that you're going to give.

This idea of protection also lead Daniel to study the 1995 film Safe where Julianne Moore plays an affluent and unexceptional homemaker in the suburbs that develops multiple chemical sensitivities.

Daniel tells me that he's not a fan of vintage styling and wants his collection to take influence from the past to create something for the future. Not only by creating visually futuristic garments but by focusing on new fabrics and technology in fashion design. Taking great influence from Balenciaga, Daniel has focused most of his experimentation with fabrics into the use of neoprene. In terms of properties within the fabric, neoprene works well against the skin of the wearer and adds to the animalistic appearance of his design. With this in mind the use of leather is also very apparent in his work. Daniel tells me "The good thing about leather is that it's always going to be around because of our diets, it's not a fabric we need to avoid. You do not look at leather as a futuristic fabric but fused together with a modern fabric such a Neoprene has added to leather's bright future in design."

Helmut Lang has been a big influence in Daniel's work. Well put together garments have been the success of Lang with beautiful, clean cuts and shapes. The quality of fabric is of utmost importance to Lang and is to Daniel as well. Looking at his black and white work from the early 90's, Daniel has been influenced by Lang's first use of sportswear in luxury fashion. Raf Simons and Philip Lim have also played a part in Daniel's research over the past few years.

There's more to Daniel's portfolio than clothing though, and by translating these ideas into accessories he also has a range of transformable bags and 3D printed sunglasses to offer. His bags can be worn three different ways with a design that even Optimus Prime would be proud of. Using characteristics of the beetle's wing case, that open and close into the design, you can wear as a rucksack, briefcase or handheld tote.

Delving deeper into Daniel's workbook I spotted some illustrations for his new collection and I wanted to know how important being able to translate ideas onto paper was to a designer. Everything is turning digital nowadays, but being able to put pencil to paper is a skill that will never become obsolete in the world of design.

Daniel tells me that he has been drawing for his whole life and studied BA (Hons) Art & Design before going into Fashion Design. His Illustration skills were vital when embarking on his journey in Design. With the digital world taking over in the 21st Century, Daniel went on to say "Design is something technical that you have to reproduce and the easiest way is to do that is by drawing, its something I can see even though it's not perfect. I enjoy the creation of a drawing, the peaceful translation from your mind to the paper. If you can't reproduce your idea of something onto paper then it's not art, then art is not accomplished."

Quite a big statement to make but I completely understand where Daniel's coming from. An idea is best shown not told, sketching a flash thought down is a divine skill that obviously still has Daniel's full attention.

Daniel's hands on approach to design and experimentation with new techniques has now led him to reside back in Barcelona, working with Reebok as a junior designer. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out of this new venture, for in my eyes he is one of the best new designers right now.

Keep an eye out for new work here - danielyuste.co.uk