Yohji Yamamoto: superstar

The other week I went to the V&A to see the Yohji Yamamoto exhibition. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I was on my bike, so I was already feeling pretty excited and inspired.

I can't get enough of Japanese fashion. I think some of the most innovative and fearless stuff in the industry comes from them - and the Belgians of course. Yamamoto in particular uses the most amazing pattern cutting, as well as having some beautiful lookbooks going back over the last few years (of course it does help when you're working with photographers like Nick Knight and Paolo Roversi). The few knitwear pieces they had on display were fluid, super soft and mixed varying textures. There was also a dress that I would kill for - black crepe with buttons running down the sides from top to bottom. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on that, I would be pretty damn happy!

As usual I walked away full of ideas of what to do next. S/S has already taken on a direction of it's own, but I'm fairly sure you'll see some of Yamamoto's influence creeping in there somewhere...

[Images taken from the V&A website]

An alpaca transformation

From this:

To this:

I encountered a lot of alpaca while I was travelling around Peru. Three years later and their fleece is a regular fixture in my work. It makes an incredibly soft & luxurious yarn that is a pleasure to work with and a joy to wear.

Press preview, 31st March 2011

Photos taken by Tamsin Isaacs

A/W 2011 is here!

Very excited to announce that A/W 2011 has just gone live on the website! To see the collection, go here and to see the lookbook in all it's glory, go here

To pre-order, email us.

What a night

Last night's press evening in Liberty's Heritage Suite was a huge success. Thanks to my brilliant team who made sure everything ran smoothly and to all who came along to see the collection.

I'll be posting some shots of the event shortly, so watch this space....

A/W 2011 is nearly here!

It's been a hectic few weeks, shooting, editing, retouching and getting the lookbook designed. Not long to go now! After my press event next Thursday I'll be launching the new collection on the website, so watch this space....

Knit it like a man

In 2008 I spent the best part of the year travelling around the world with my boyfriend. One of the countries I loved most (and intend to return to) was Peru.

It was breathtakingly beautiful (sometimes breathtaking in the literal sense, due to some pretty high altitudes) and diverse. Textiles are one of the countries main exports and wool & alpaca play a huge part in that. We visited some islands on Lake Titicaca while we were there and I was thrilled to be told that on Taquile Island, knitting is big business. But, surprisingly, it isn't the women who produce all the pieces that then get sold to visiting tourists. On Taquile Island knitting is the responsibility of the men! So all of the perfectly finished hats, sweaters, gloves and other pieces had been painstakingly knitted by all the husbands and sons in residence.

I thought that was a pretty cool role reversal and try to remember to tell this to the very few male knitting students I come across when I'm teaching.