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After being head buyer for over 20 years at Schuller’s, one of the country’s first ’boutique’ opticians, Laura Imami decided it was time to branch out. Two years ago she began to create her own branded eyewear designs and quickly became the fastest selling brand at Schuller’s.

She’s racked up celebrity fans since creating timeless and on trend designs, we met the designer to talk about her beginnings and plans for the future.

What made you want to start your own eyewear company?

My love for eyewear was always present as I started wearing glasses from a very young age.  When I came to London I was very lucky to be employed by one of the best boutique opticians where my passion grew even stronger. During my time at Schuller’s I have gained a lot of experience in all aspects of running a business. I worked hard towards the perfect moment when I could bring out a range which I could oversee entirely. I always believed in the perfect platform that would complement my vision of what contemporary eyewear design should be and I feel I have finally achieved that.

How has being the head buyer for Schullers helped you set up Laura Imami Eyewear?

Being the head buyer for Schuller Opticians gave me the opportunity of meeting the best eyewear designers and top manufacturers who were always very keen to present their work in our stores. In them, I managed to see they’re imperfections as well as their perfections and I chose to learn from both.

You must be an expert in the industry and so has this affected the way you design or run your company from having so much experience?

Absolutely! The years of experience have played a big role on how I design and run my company. Designing frames is not just about the aesthetic look. Many elements play important parts in bringing together my final product. My frames are known to be bold, therefore I had to search for the lightest acetate to give comfort, the strongest hinges to give durability and many other factors that make Laura Imami Eyewear a luxury brand. Each of my frames are hand crafted, nothing is mass produced, thus everything is individually checked for perfection.

You have a lot of A-list clients but is there anyone in particular you would like to design for?

Jean Reno. I absolutely adore him.

Which designers, if any, have inspired you?

Coco Chanel and her timeless designs. Her trademark suits and little black dresses has always been my inspiration. When designing my own creations, her famous quote “Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not a luxury” became my motto at work.

What is your favourite design so far and why?

Each of my designs have their own story, but if I have to choose my favourite would be Leon. My first design and also named after my son.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

To be perfectly honest I haven’t planned that far ahead. I am enjoying the present and plan on designing eyewear for many years to come.

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Having graduated from CSM in 2012 and launched her debut collection in 2014, Jordan-born designer Nafsika Skourti has also done time at the Marchesa HQ in New York and trained in haute couture, embroidery and passementerie at Ecole Lesage in Paris. Her AW15 collection – Everything Must Go – is testament to her unique training and her work ehic and process is innovative and refreshing. We catch up with Skourti to hear more.

Tell us a little bit about your current aesthetic?

The key word here is ‘current’, this answer will expire in a few months. Right now I’m in a much louder phase, turning the volume up. 

Do you feel like studying at Central Saint Martins was a catalyst in your decision to follow your current direction and aesthetic in your designing?

Central Saint Martins is all about extracting what is already in you, more so than injecting. So it was good breeding ground, but the seeds were always our own.

What is it like being a designer in Jordan?

It works. I lived, studied and worked in London, Paris and New York, so when I when I felt like it was time to come back, I didn’t come back empty handed. On the one hand, the fashion industry is very small here, tiny actually, so there are challenges that come with that. But on the other hand, there is an untapped creative energy. Like how every country or climate is best for a certain kind of fruit – mangoes grow in Sri-Lanka but in Portugal you get oranges. I feel like Jordan has a unique ecosystem that’s really feeding me right now. From the conflict we’re surrounded by, to the lack of some resources, the abundance of others – all these factors influence my work.

Tell us about your design process. What are the steps you take from creating an idea to handing in the finished product?

It’s always very personal, and I find that the more personal I am in my message the more universal it is. This summer all we (me and my sister/business partner) wanted to do was go to festivals and travel with our friends, enjoy being young, celebrate it. We wanted fun. Our schedule didn’t allow for it but it was still in me and I think it came out in the SS16 collection. When designing I always start with the fabric. Experiment with print, embroidery, whatever. I then look at a lot of vintage and second hand stuff – they’re a huge reference, especially the ‘bad’ stuff. I’ll have two parallel databases moving in my head, one lane for fabrics and textures and the other for shapes and styling. Then there is a lot of draping on myself – cue cringe 2am selfies. It’s the only way to make sure things don’t get too ‘theoretical’.

What is it about menswear that you are so passionate about?

Don’t you ever go to the women’s section of a store and think, why? Menswear is designed with that ‘why’ in mind. Everything has a point.

What would be the best way to describe your brand identity?

As a young brand, I feel like we are evolving with every season, expanding our vocabulary and experimenting. But there are some elements that never leave: developing interesting textiles, tailoring, a certain minimalism. But really it boils down to contrasts. Really good contrasts.

Where do you see your career in ten years time, and what skills do you wish to collect that you do not yet posses?

I want to get super good at running a company. Creatively and other wise. I’m talking Armani good, not just any good.  In ten years I imagine everything will expand, the machine will get bigger, faster, better. I hope that despite all of that, to still keep our creative integrity. It’s the one thing you can’t outsource. My bonus skill would be to develop an app or to make a short documentary. 

What does fashion mean to you, and how do you think it benefits our natural instincts to stand out as individuals?

If I had 10 minutes to deliver the essence of fashion (as I see it) to someone I would start by getting out my favourite book ‘Exactitudes’ by Ari Versluis and Ellie Uttenbroek. It’s basically cultural anthropology – a fantastic photographic study of modern day tribes and sub cultures – the most interesting for me are the people who aren’t trying to say anything, the ‘normal’ ones, because it makes you realize that it’s impossible to not say something with what you wear. It also visually illustrates the very close, very interesting relationship between clothes, people, and lifestyles. Fashion is often wrongly over-associated with glossy photo-shoots. Next, Ill get my laptop out and go on a modeling agency website and browse through some model portfolios, where its all the same girl, but she looks crazy different in each shoot. Sometimes she’s a tomboy girl, sometimes she’s an alien girl, sometimes she’s an uptight sexy bitch girl. All this just from hair, make-up and clothes. This is relevant to me because fashion is about fantasy and transformation. Being able to change your packaging is just such a sexy concept.  

What a great explanation. Okay, last one, which celebrities do you see wearing your collections?

Yasmin Sewell, Julianne Moore, Chloe Sevigny. Omg I would die if the London Grammar girl wears something. I don’t even know her name but I love her.

Photography: Kirill Kuletsk

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You probably shouldn’t wear Namilia’s designs to dinner with your Nan. Phallus shapes layered into patterns, latex and emojis, even if your Nan was down with the feminist attitude and genitalia garments, you’d probably have to spend a good half hour explaining the intricate differences between a face and a face.

Nan Li and Emilia Pfohl created the brand together after completing university in Berlin and brought their clothes to life with the attitude, ‘my pussy my choice’. Clothes with inflatables, as seen in their latest collection, are unfortunately not always going to be appropriate for everyday wear, but you can take on their ethos any day of the week. After looking to any girls who go against the body perception grain for inspiration, from Arvida Byström to Kim Kardashian, their collection is a loud and ironic declaration of what femininity is for youth in 2015 and all the more intriguing for combining hyper-feminine fabrics and styles with digi-prints and unabashed sexuality.

Here, we take a look at their not-for-Nans collection – shot by Millicent Hailes – and learn who the ultimate Namilia girl is.

You met at University of the Arts in Berlin, how long did it take for you to realise you wanted to work together? What attracted each of you to one other?

The first time we worked together was on our 2nd year of BA for a collection project in 2011. During that time we realised creatively we function almost like one person. We have the same expectations, spirit and drive and of course there are often discussions and arguments but that just makes the decision making process and development so much more fun and faster. It’s a constant exchange of ideas and thoughts and we really push each other to our limits. It is so rare that you meet someone with the same work ethic and ambitions for the future that it just felt right to start our own thing after college.

How do you go about designing as a duo, do you find you often have to compromise? What does each of you bring to the brand?

For us the design process is a constant discussion and research. We talk about everything that concerns, inspires and drives us in our lives and that all influences the visual outcome in the end. If you are alone with your thoughts you often get stuck and need someone else’s opinion just to move on so it’s great to be two people bouncing off ideas all the time. I would say that Emilia’s focus lies more in the garment and she focuses a lot more on things like details, quality and finishings whereas I am more about the big scales, fantasy and the story of the collections.

At what stage in the creation of your latest collection did the idea for an inflatable element come in? What are you trying to create with this unconventional aesthetic?

It came to us during one of the first stages of research. We were researching a lot about how clothing can be symbols of power and the representational value of historical garments like the 2D silhouettes of Rococo court gowns with the sole purpose to demonstrate the wealth and power of the wearer. We wanted to recreate that feeling of a larger than life silhouette in a modern and fun way so instead of using the traditional construction method of boning we wanted to play on the emptiness and illusion of clothing by using air to literally blow up the silhouette.

What’s your favourite piece from your latest collection?

We would say that the Kimi dress (inflatable latex dress with trompe l’oeil velvet heart effect) is one of the most successful silhouettes in this collection. The inflatable element in printed velvet really merges with the latex garment and floats around the body to create an optical illusion of a floating heart. Also the embroidery „think outside the cocks“ which is done in traditional goldwork technique on top of a sexmoji vinyl print is one of the main slogans of the collection.

Namilia describes itself as an ‘empowerment and celebration of a radically new, ironic and youthful understanding of femininity’, what’s your definition of femininity in 2015?

We feel that the word feminism has become this really heavy almost negative expression which is intuitively connected with a really aggressive, man hating movement from the past. For us feminism in 2015 should simply mean that you should be able to be whoever you want and to celebrate that choice.

Who’s your ultimate pin-up figure for the brand, who would you love to design for?

Each outfit in the collection is based on and dedicated to one of the leading characters in current pop culture like Miley Cyrus, Nicky Minaj or Kim Kardashian. We’d say that they are definitely our icons at the moment that we would love to design for but besides that we see any girl with the right attitude and spirit as part of our Namilia gang.

How do you imagine the typical Namilia girl?

For us the Namilia girl questions and rebels against common rules and perceptions of femininity. She stands up for what she believes in and ideally wears our clothes to demonstrate that be it on stage or on the streets.

You play with emojis for one of your prints and speak about how social media has empowered us to speak up, what is the most significant way social media has impacted your lives?

Instagram has been a major part of this project during almost all stages. In the beginning our research was almost entirely done via Instagram to look at really recent and instant material and the phenomenon of fan and stardom nowadays. Now as we are establishing a „brand“ it gives us the possibility to be in direct contact with our customers and fans. We get direct feedback from all around the world and can connect with them instantly and now Instagram has become our main presence in the internet.

If you were an emoji, which would you be?

Definitely the explosion emoji and you will find out why during our fashion show as part of Los Angeles Fashion Week in October so stay tuned!

What are your plans for the brand for the future, what are you working towards?

At the moment we are trying to figure out our own approach on how to establish a fashion label in 2015 and to really push the boundaries between reality and virtuality and art and fashion because for us garments, just like a piece of art are a visual platform to proclaim beliefs, conflicts and dreams as young creatives.

Words: Lily Walker

Photography: Millicent Hailes

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Middlesex University grad Clara Martin is a name to learn. After flirting with themes of childhood nostalgia for her 2013 graduate collection, she’s moved into the competitive luxury sportswear arena for SS16 but Martin can hold her own. With boxy silhouettes, loose cuts, pastel shades and a pic n mix selection of materials on offer in the line she showed at LC:M SS16, there’s still a fondness for youth in the strawberry sherbet tones and schoolboy shorts but everything’s been pared down for wearability this season.

We caught up with the designer to talk about past collections, her design process and dreams of dressing everyone’s favourite royal, Prince Harry.

How old were you when you realised you wanted to be a designer?

It wasn’t really until college, when I was doing my A-Levels, that I realized that I wanted to become a designer. When I was younger, I hated sewing!

Both your parents are designers too, did they encourage you to design when growing up?

My mother and grandmother are actually the designers in my family, and although I am fully supported now, it wasn’t their career of choice for me. My mum wanted me to become a lawyer!

What drew you to menswear, and do you think you’d ever cross over to womens?

I love menswear because I feel like you can be more creative, and there is so much that hasn’t been done yet! For me, I don’t see enough playfulness in menswear, and I see that as a challenge, which I love to take on.

You focus on feelings of nostalgia when working, can you talk us through your design process?

I love to have references in my research that others can quickly relate to. I think when designing clothes that aren’t entirely conventional, there needs to be something that people can understand, and for me that is childhood.

What message did you want to get across with the collection?

This collection is about expressing yourself with more wearable pieces that simultaneously act as standout pieces. I want men to understand the idea of wearable concept – clothes that hold a deeper meaning beyond just being an item of clothing and to also feel excited by wearing colour.

You seem to be completely reinventing the suit into something more playful and fun, what made you want to give it a makeover?

I feel like a lot of menswear needs updating, and for me, having a contemporary feel to the classics, as we know them, is a way of doing it. I play around with matching sets this collection, like my Jordy tracksuit and the Nathan tees and Fedell shorts. It’s a sort of nod to sportswear but also an attempt at carving out a new lane with mens casualwear.

You’ve experimented with 2D shapes becoming 3D through panels, construction and knit for collections – why did you decide to use such bold techniques and fabrics?

Fabric manipulation is a part of playfulness and is also a nod to my personal childhood, which I remember, being a blur of play-doh and sugar paper! I approach every collection thinking about fabrics and the feel of the silhouette first, so there is often a lot of sampling with glue, paper and felt tips.

Who is the ultimate ‘Clara Martin’ pin-up guy?

I don’t think I have one yet, but I would love to dress Jaden Smith or somebody like Prince Harry. I think he’d understand the brand.

Describe your latest collection in three words.

Energetic, playful, luxury.

Your AW15 collection has a boy scout vibe going on, what was the inspiration and meaning behind this collection?

My younger foster brother was my muse for AW15, and it was about the juxtaposition of a hot-tempered young man being put through the process and discipline of Boy Scouts. I used many textures and different fabrics, suede, merino wool, patent leather, cottons and silks and focused on branding and making creative clothes luxurious. Almost like refining a wild creative.

You chose to use more muted colours, in comparison to your SS15 collection where you used bright bold ones, why was this?

I use colour to represent the mood of my collections, and I guess AW15 had a somewhat darker tone in comparison to my SS15. The reds and blues of the Spring Summer 2015 collection were to demonstrate a new technique with knit, where I used hair weave as fabric. I wanted a bright and attractive collection and to also use knitwear in a different form within menswear.

Direction & Photography: Rhys Frampton

Production Assistants: Assist London

Editing: Chris Sharrock

Film: Arash at Assist London

Styling: Way Perry

Styling Assistant: Vincent Pons

Grooming: Ben Jones

Grooming Assistant: Joshua

Models: Lewis Bryant, Ollie Pallister, David Frampton, Jakub, Jeremy Matos all at SUPA Model Management

Shoes: Sebago

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Click here if you dare. Fall down an internet black hole back into the millennium where you couldn’t get online without a discordant dial tone and you couldn’t click on a webpage without being surrounded by pop-ups. Jasmine Febbraro’s update is somewhat cooler and certainly darker than the sparkling GIF ads you used to get for cartoon clickers and moving aquarium screensavers. The Kingston University grad’s site is an extension of her collection, which is plastered in pornographic titles and after you reluctantly remove the safe guard of your pop-up blocker, your screen will be flooded with all sorts, from images to messages, to films. We won’t spoil the surprise but if you haven’t opened it all ready, you might not want to take a look while you’re at work.

Intrigued and impressed, we pinned down Jasmine to ask her about her choice of words, her entrancing website and find out more about the hacker ethic, which she defines as “an intimacy with the machine, a philosophy of sharing, openness and decentralisation.”

What were your main inspirations for your collection?

After reading an article written about a technology revolution taking place in the comfort of peoples own homes, I decided to focus on pyjamas and loungewear lending to a unisex design style, but used internet ‘hackers’ as my main source of inspiration, as I considered these the extreme technology users. I took inspiration from 90s tech movies, hacker scandals, and information written about the way hackers work and what they believe in.

Why did you decide to use porn titles as a print?

Through my research it became obvious that technology and the beliefs of hackers revolve around sharing information. I was interested in commenting on what is really shared on the Internet. I felt the Porn Hub’s imagery was perfect, as to some it’s instantly recognisable, as well as the website being a place for sexual liberation, but at the same time creates damaging stereotypes for all genders. Regardless of all of that, you can see by what’s printed; “Beautiful 10 INCH Cock HOT BAD BOY, 205,745 views, 86% Likes”, that people do watch it and like it.

Do think porn has been normalised or did you involve it because you find it shocking?

I think in our generation where everything is so accessible online, everything is in a way normalised, but I think more than ever we have a public and private self. A part of us that is shared proudly, but another part that is kept slightly hidden away because it is strange, embarrassing or inappropriate. I think in a way I enjoy bringing these slightly obscure themes to the forefront. Literally wearing a two piece covered in risque text that you only notice and get to read when up close and personal.

What has the reaction been like?

The reaction has been positive, I think people like the humour in admittance that they recognise the print. But the more I think about the collection I feel the aim was never to please, but in a way just document what real people share, like and are interested in. The fact that it is so often perceived as shocking, whilst being so popular, suggests a huge part of popular culture is rarely touched upon, almost a taboo.

Who do you imagine will wear the collection and where?

I hope both men and women will wear this collection. It would also be exciting to see different ages wearing it. Whether it’s a business woman chilling in her house, or someone trying to make a statement at a party. However, I would love to see musicians like FKA Twigs and Grimes’ wearing the designs, as I feel they always make bold fashion choices and do not fit the mould of what a girl should look like. Especially Grimes describing herself as genderless, and embracing natural body hair. My collection includes a pair of hand-felted trousers inspired by hairy legs and pubic hair — a stereotypically unsexy thing to share on webcam.

What were you listening to while you were making the collection?

I listened to Gorillaz – “Plastic Beach” continuously:

As well as this mix by Jamie xx and John Talabot:

https://soundcloud.com/timsweeney/jamiexxandjohntalabot1

Both are very experimental, long and electronic. As well as “Giorgia by Moroder” by Daft Punk every time I had creative block!

Where did the idea behind your website come from? How difficult was it to design?

The website was designed by a graphic designer called Nick Reilly. I explained I wanted a website that was to be inspired by hackers and virus’ with a voyeuristic feel, being less like a website, but interactive and almost difficult to use, an experience rather than the average fashion website. We also spoke a little about the Revenge Porn stories that were appearing in the news. After that the project was all his!

What is the hacker ethic?

A set of beliefs encouraging openness and sharing of information. All designs allow the wearer to share their body, either through open, deep v-necks, or suggestive zip detailing. The trousers can be split in half and re-joined with another design through the central zip; encouraging the wearer to edit the design or expose themselves. My main aim was to make the wearer have ultimate creative control, encouraging them to create disruptive and mismatching combinations, or the removal of parts completely.

Who are your favourite designers?

My favourite designer of all time is Martin Margiela, mostly because of the way he used to destroy and re-appropriate old clothes, whilst using ordinary people as models. As well as ACNE — every collection is totally new, modern and slightly odd, with a concept shared across both the mens and womens’ collections. I think both Margiela and ACNE constantly challenged notions of fashion, gender and style.

Fashion Design and Creative Direction: Jasmine Febbraro

Photography: Ursula Underhill

Graphic Design: Armaan Khan

Website Design: Nick Reilly

Models: Rowan J Stevens and Rachel Cockerell

Words: Lily Walker

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This summer, Wonderland got dusty in Mexico City to check out beer-behemoth Heineken’s new space-age drinky spot, the Pop-Up City Lounge. Being big fans of anarchic, sharply angular industrial design, we were thrilled to meet the brand’s Head of Design Mark van Iterson, who helped carve the globe-trotting mobile mixology bar out of a shipping container shell. Launched in four major cities including Warsaw and New York last year, Iterson walked us through its vaulting corrugated arks and conversation coves.

Hi Mark. Take me through the basic idea behind the concept – when did it come about?

The very initial idea was actually by my boss – the global Heineken line director – after we had the basics of the brand design: one iconic bottle worldwide, the label, the glass, the can, the draught bottle. I spent three days at Milan Design Week, walking around. Funnily enough, it was even more than three days because that was the year that there was the volcanic eruption in Iceland. That’s when we came up with the concept of open design inspiration and developed the vision of making sure we create a creative playground. We wanted the designers to experiment and go wild. It’s tested to see how people react, to see how it works, see how the press reacts and then from there see if something works. Take it, sculpt it and make it better.

Interesting that the project started and ended at a Fashion Week. Where did you take the concept from there?

It was a couple of angles. We built the design and we employed some of our country teams, who would love to do it in our country in London. It turned out that the travel was extremely difficult. When we started the launch, we thought we should make sure from the start that it’s successful and it’s going to be easy to travel because then we can leverage it much better. I also came up with concept brainstorms on what we saw: lunching, beer, going out. High definition and futuristic was what we were designing, because we wanted to build a future vision. Then we would see this opposite “big brand” [idea] – a grungy, industrial, unpolished container. So the exterior and interiors of containers are full of old kegs and standing tables. We use cans and bottles for lights. We love that contrast and think it makes it more exciting and less polished.

Where did you source the materials for it? They are, are as you say, very gaudy and anti-luxe. 

We worked with a company that has experience in redoing containers, even bars made out of containers. A lot of the smaller stuff like the trays and coasters are printed. Initially everything was going to be [3D] printed, but printing can still be pretty slow and expensive and on this scale. The size makes it very, very difficult.

After tonight’s launch party, in conjunction with Mexico Fashion Week shows in the same building, where will you take the container?

After this we are very likely to go to France, then we will go to Taiwan. We have Puerto Rica lined up and Singapore and Columbia. We’re starting in super-hip cities with big fashion events. Then that will bring us to next year and maybe we’ll have our next concept.

How do you move it from place to place? How easy is this?

No, we have to pack it carefully. There’s a half-container where all the other pieces and the fridges go in. It takes one or two days.

Let’s get nerdy. Who are your favourite industrial designers, or designers who have shaped a brand’s packaging aesthetic?

I love very different styles and different inspirations; street art and fashion. I love Chanel, from a brand point of view they are still true to their core, to their DNA as to who Coco Chanel was. Chanel I think is brilliant: timeless, iconic, classic, and there’s a story there. It’s one of my inspirations because it’s beautiful, original art. With design, less is more: there is a power of simplicity in certain things. That’s why I think I think like a brand like Heineken: there’s a certain style element with the beer label, it’s very minimalistic. It’s a traditional label shape, but even within those restrictions we simplify it as much as possible. We never try to add more thrills or icons or gold. It’s very simple and pure. If you do minimalism right, it’s a masterpiece.

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It’s time for overdressing to make a comeback. The saying ‘all fur coat and no knickers’ doesn’t ring true for Emma Brewin and her wonderfully decadent designs. A great believer in the importance of faux fur, Emma translates a kid’s fantasy world of dress up into XXL floor-skimming coats. Warning: a strong personality is needed if you want to overpower all that fuzz. Cue Iggy Azalea; a fan who’s definitely ‘brewin it’ – a term coined by the designer.

Brewin’s campaign dips into nostalgia. Models lounge by the pool and drape themselves across gold sheets, wearing nothing but those coats in rich shades of blue, green and grey. She’s fresh, she’s fun and most of all, she’s going to succeed if the recent explosion of faux fur labels like Shrimps are anything to go by. We caught up with Emma to talk the revival of fur, her ideal client and what’s next on the cards.

First question: why fur?

It’s so inspiring to work with, for me it epitomizes romance and glamour.

There’s a lot of talk over faux vs real in the fur trade (especially with people like Karl Lagerfeld championing the real stuff). Do you feel there’s a need to continue using real fur in fashion?

We are in a time now where designers can use faux fur to create timeless, luxurious pieces and it’s so exciting to be a part of that.

Tell us about your first collection. Looking at your campaign, it seems very nostalgic.

I wanted my collection to capture the innocence and imagination of a child dressing up.

How did you begin creating your collection?

In the early stages, a lot of my time was spent with children. I would take them to charity shops and vintage shops and just let them play. It was a beautiful insight into their minds.

Your designs are big and bold. Is there a reason behind the XXL silhouette?

The silhouettes of my coats capture everything that I wanted to create in the sense of nostalgia and glamour. When people see my coats, they can’t help but step into them and have a play. It’s a difficult thing to describe but a wonderful thing to watch.

How do we get ahold of one of these coats?

I have seasonal collections that are made to order. There are also special bespoke projects that I have done and will continue to do.

It takes a special kind of person to work faux fur. Who is the ideal Emma Brewin woman?

I am drawn to women that are strong and vivacious. I am also not exclusively womenswear. I have my eye on a few men that I would absolutely love to dress.

What’s next for you?

I am currently working on my SS16 collection. I have had some exciting proposals for collaborations. This is just the beginning for me and I feel blessed.

Words: Lauren Sharkey

Photographer: Emma Dudlyke

Stylist: Clarissa Bowman

Hair: Jake Gallagher

Make Up Artist: Mona Leanne

Models: Dylana and Yazmin at Profile Models

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He says he was a “shy kid”, but there is nothing inhibited about his clothing. From leather harnessing to mesh cut-outs via a healthy dose of glitter, Simon Preen’s unashamed designs have been empowering women since the launch of his eponymous clothing line back in 2009. Having graduated from London College of Fashion and going onto work with the likes of Pam Hogg, his barely-there body suits have since caught the attention of music acts ranging from FKA Twigs to Kylie.

After a whirlwind 2014, we start the New Year by catching up with the music world’s designer du jour to get a first look at his SS15 collection, ‘Bunny’, and to see what other tricks he has up his sleeve for the future.

Tell us a bit about the journey that led to you launching your own label… 

I studied fashion: I did a BA in Menswear. I guess I didn’t really expect to do menswear initially, but I did a fashion course in Chesterfield – where I’m from – and so when it came to applying to courses, it was kind of all the same to me in my head, because I never really design for men or women. So even though I applied for a menswear course, it wasn’t necessarily strictly menswear that I was producing. I just thought that the technical side of London College of Fashion’s menswear course was really good and really strong. Having said that, I feel that I got more of what I needed [to start up my own label] from London rather than the course!

2014 was a great year for you: you’ve been busy working on projects with everyone from Kylie to FKA Twigs… What was it like to work with such empowering women? 

Those kind of projects are the things that I enjoy the most as a designer. Especially working within music, which is where most of my celebrity work is. Music is one of my biggest inspirations and passions, so working with people in music is something I like to do. I do like working on my own, but I also like being a part of a bigger, final result. So I’ve done work with smaller artists, which has mostly been through my own initiative, but the big artists always seem to come to me, which is great. And Kylie… I’ve loved Kylie since I was about six years old. But when they approached me to do it, I didn’t tell them that I was such a big fan! I’m a bit shy. I guess I never stopped being a shy kid at heart…

The theatrical element of your designs does lend them well to music and dance, doesn’t it?

That’s why I’ve done so many tours now, because my clothes are perfect for stage. They’re quite graphic, but you can really move in them.

Will you always work with just women?

A lot of people have asked me to do menswear, actually. So I decided to do a small collection of five pieces to see how it went about five years ago. Everyone really loved it and it got a really good response, but ultimately it didn’t really sell. So it wasn’t really worth my time trying to do two extra collections. And the kind of boys that want to wear my stuff will wear what I design anyway. They’ll wear the women’s stuff. I wear it! I hate saying body stocking all the time – it sounds so cheap! – but the way that they’re supposed to fit mean that a lot of boys can wear it anyway. Especially skinny, gay guys. And trannies. Actually, I shouldn’t say trannies. No, I should say trannies to make a point. I’m sick of people being offended by the word rather than the intent behind the word – it’s PC gone mad that RuPaul could be accused of being transphobic – and I guess the word tranny is a bit vague and all encompassing but gender and sexuality is so wide these days that if you are a part of the queer community in my opinion we are all the same and I so passionately love every kind of tranny that there is so….

So when you’re looking for someone that you want to work with, what is it that you’re looking for in that person?

It really does just come down to me liking someone and thinking that they’re cool and wanting to dress them. I’m trying to think of someone in particularly that I’d like to dress at the moment… Actually, I’ve always wanted to dress PJ Harvey. She looks amazing now, but my ideal would be to dress her during the To Bring You My Love album era. Apart from that, I’ve always wanted to do a shoe collaboration. I don’t really want to have my own line of shoes or anything, but I’ve always been interested in doing a shoe collab. I think Dr. Martens would work well with the way that I make my clothes already, kind of like piece work.

What are your goals for 2015? 

My goal is really just to catch up! To catch up with the seasons and feel like I’m working to a proper schedule. It sounds a bit boring to say that, but I’m not very good at planning ahead. I just take the next step that I need to take as it comes, and then I think of the next step after that. I really need a business advisor. That should be what I’m aiming towards this year! But I don’t really believe in new year’s resolutions…

And moving onto your SS15 collection, ‘Bunny’; what was the inspiration behind it?

Well the inspiration is quite loose – as with all my inspirations – because I don’t actually start with the inspiration. I decide upon the theme at the end when I’ve made everything. I find whenever I’ve tried to make collections with a specific result in mind or with a specific inspiration it doesn’t work. It confuses me. So I basically just start making things. I don’t even really like drawing on paper: I just have these ideas in my head and make them straight into patterns. Then I kind of notice the themes somewhere along the way and christen it at the end.

With ‘Bunny’, I decided I wanted to do more leather work. So I did a section of leather pieces in there. And I also wanted to do more pieces that weren’t leotards and skin-tight body suits. I wanted to work outwards from the body a little bit more. I feel like I was getting a bit comfortable with the body suits. That’s what people love me for though, and it’s what I love doing, so I think I will always do a certain amount of them. In fact, the final piece that I made was the Bunny body, and I always name each collection after the key piece or my favourite piece. The Bunny was actually an idea I had when coming back from visiting family and friends for the weekend. I was hoping to do the look book shoot two days later, but when I made it I realised I had to call it the ‘Bunny’ collection. I also realised that there was a general Alice in Wonderland theme coming through as well, and so each name for each piece is a kind of Wonderland-inspired name. There’s not always necessarily a direct link, but it encapsulates the kind of playful, cut-out, cartoon element of the collection. So I thought that worked really well.

Leather works really well with your overall look, but this is the first time you’ve used it again since your first collections. Why did you decide to incorporate it back into your designs? 

I wanted the leather pieces that I did to be somewhere in between a harness and a piece of clothing, so they’re almost like pieces of clothing with big sections missing. I had the idea a long time ago for the blue ‘Alice’ dress in this collection; I actually made the original sample for that almost two years ago. That was the starting point. Then making those leather pieces work with the body suits underneath them sums up the whole look, really.

What is it about the body stocking and body-con silhouette that you like so much? 

That’s my favourite way to work with regard to pattern cutting. It’s just the way I visualise things really. In my head I draw lines onto bodies. I like the female form, and in my mind I like separating it. That’s the way I draw. I draw straight onto a full body pattern and kind of just cut it up and create weird shapes. It’s like that whole Grace Jones in Vamp kind of a vibe.

There’s definitely a gothic – almost fetishistic – element that runs throughout your designs. Is this something that’s important to you and your aesthetic?

Yes. That’s the way I think, and that’s the kind of girl that I’m designing for in my head. As I say, because I don’t choose a theme at the beginning of each collection, I think my collections won’t always look dramatically different, but there will always be this dark edge to everything that I do because that’s what I’m inspired by. Music, movies, everything. That’s the way I dress: a bit gothic, a bit grunge. Glamour grunge. So that’s the girl that I’m designing for in my head all the time.

So what kind of girl do you think does wear your clothing?

It kind of goes across the board. It’s actually interesting to see people wearing things that you’ve designed with a certain image in mind, but they make it so completely different. There’s this American beauty mogul that practically owns every piece of my collections and we’ve started doing a few custom pieces for her as well. She’s, like, completely ghetto fabulous, and she’s inspired so many other people to buy from me, who wear my designs in a completely different way to how I would have ever thought of, but it’s amazing. I love it. The body suits are like a second skin, so I think that’s why it’s so easy to wear it in so many different ways.

Do you have any thoughts on your next collection yet?

I have started doing some patterns, but at the moment it’s going to be as big a surprise for me as it will be to anyone else!

www.simonpreen.com

Words: Samantha Southern

Photography: Emily Rose England

Make-Up: Guy Common

Hair: Sophia Hadjisergis

Model: Maxine at Anti Agency

Stylist: Simon Preen

Shoes: Natacha Marro

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