Search. Click. Zoom. Add. Checkout. (Google endless discount codes). Buy.
We live in an era of fast-fashion, a culture of “see now buy now”, and “click to buy” consumption. Shopping is centered around seamless omnichannel services, offering fast-paced, and huge-scale variety of sartorial choices from mainstream online retailers such as Pretty Little Thing and Missguided who promise clothes to be delivered the next day. The internet, as a result, has exacerbated the ease of accessibility to cheaper, ready-to-wear clothing. In doing so, it leaves a thirst amongst consumers for a more authentic and exclusive experience, that diverts from the larger retailers, creating a pathway for independent brands. Championing originality outside of the conventional www., here are 5 female designers who fuse the voices of society and a sewing kit, into the new generation of high-fashion.
Shrimps
When someone references Shrimps, they no longer mean the coral crustacean. Fresh out of her diploma at London College of Fashion in 2013, Hannah Weiland launched the cult brand Shrimps. Pioneering eclectic prints with faux fur, the company articulates itself in a discourse of modern art, contextualized through lively, and guilt-free outerwear and intricately beaded accessories. Her seminal approach to cruelty-free clothing has brought the brand an international audience, with stockists ranging from Tblisi to Beyoncé. If that doesn’t excite you enough, the cursor on their website is an illustrated Shrimp. Hours of your life you’ll never get back.
Paloma Wool
Spanish sensation, Paloma Wool communicates ideals of artistry over commercial. Somewhat ironically, the founder and namesake of the company, uses the highly commercial platform of Instagram, in order to promote her online label. Yet Paloma Wool’s patch of the internet brings into fruition a more visionary, and inclusive experience to a clothing label. She incorporates ceramics, textiles, and artists into the brand’s visual culture, creating a community project of designers and artists. The photographs she produces, curated through @palomawool’s soft, ethereal Instagram profile offers an insight into the collective, placing emphasis on the female body as a source of beauty through collections that ignore the rubrics of retails seasons and sales.
Errortique
Co-founder of Keash braids (if you know you know), Jessy Linton made no mistake in creating her sultry online brand based in Hackney, Errrortique. Her philosophy is an articulation of raunchy opulence, meets a haberdasher’s paradise, with diamanté buckles and feathered hems. The collection, which Linton unveiled subtly through a sequence of unexpected Instagram posts announcing their new drop in November 2018 posits a palette of eclectic looks, juxtaposing a debonair Kat Slater to the Kylie (the OG Kylie) as the Green Fairy in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge. No absinthe needed to perceive the effortless sexiness of Linton’s work. You heard the homophone right – Errortique.
Rowen Rose
Rowen Rose typifies a woman of contradictions. Motivated by sophistication, but underpinned with an androgynous grace, Rowen Rose was created by Emma Raphaëlle Rotenberg in 2017. The 21-year-old designer, born and raised in Paris draws upon a pool of cultural references from cinematic work to paintings and plays. Her recent collection ‘Santa Cruz’ instates a new mode of couture, inspired by the mourning of a tyrannical mother. Her cultural references create a rigor throughout her work, with black veils and laced gloves, chartering a macabre chic into a powerful woman.
Slashed by Tia
Ruffles on ruffles, Slashed by Tia redefines the “Renaissance” through her textured, organza fabrics, for the likes of Dua Lipa, Brooke Candy and Gigi Hadid. Due to graduate this year in Culture and Media, 21-year-old Teni “Tia” Adeola takes inspiration from the Renaissance, curating ruffled pieces that exude feminine charm. Nigerian-born, London-raised and based in New York, Tia prides herself on incorporating diversity throughout her work, which she launched in 2016 and juggles alongside her studies. Her ruffles are a testament to an enviable delegation of organization between reading textbooks and dressing Gigi.
by Scarlett Baker
cover photo via Rowen Rose
