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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2015
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| 23
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Age: 17
How come I’ve never heard of
her? That’s a strange one, given
that the brand is sold in around
1,500 stores in more than 40
countries. Then again, it’s one of
those labels that tends to hide its
light in small independent
boutiques – the kind run by
formidable women who know
exactly what their customers
need for any given event. It
doesn’t advertise either.
It? What is Luisa – an
automaton? Sort of. Luisa
doesn’t exist per se. She’s a team
of designers who work for the
century-old Haber group, a
textile business. Luisa Cerano’s
pride and joy is its consistency
and quality-driven, high-tech
manufacturing that produces
10 mini-collections a year, every
element of which is designed to
slot in with the others.
Sounds a bit technical. As you
might expect from Germany. A
dedicated team of trouser
specialists who deploy innovative
CAD tools delivers a precision fit:
larger sizes are designed from
the ground up – not simply scaled
up. Colours are fed into a
computer program to avoid, say
a navy mismatch between
different collections. If the
computer says no, colours are
repigmented.
Germany? So not only does
Luisa not exist, she’s not even
Italian? Does Coco Chanel still
exist? Think of Luisa as a high
concept, state-of-the-art avatar
from southern Germany, which
isn’t a million miles from Italy.
Come to think of it, LC’s aesthetic
isn’t a million millimetres from
Max Mara. Result: lovely classic
coats and knitwear, sleek
workwear tailoring and easy
weekend pieces, with prices
ranging from around £79 to
£700 for a coat, and up to
£1400 for special leather pieces.
Lisa Armstrong
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Age: 2
So who are they? The brand was
founded by twenty-something, New
York-based designers Pookie and
Louisa Burch.
Why do I recognise that
surname? The designers are the
daughters of retail giant Chris
Burch, who co-founded the
eponymous brand Tory Burch with
his then-wife.
So they’re just trustafarians? Far
from it. Fusing Pookie’s education in
photography at Black Mountain
College in North Carolina and
Louisa’s training in design, the
brand combines art and fashion.
Think Joseph Albers and Barnett
Newman crossed with Céline.
Céline, you say? The aesthetic is
much the same, although the price
point is happily different (the most
expensive item is a leather coat at
3<I@NN<0@R<M?
Age: 0
What do you mean it’s 0
years old? Seward
launched her eponymous
brand in March at the
autumn/winter 2015
shows in Paris, but
her designs won’t
actually be available
to buy at Net-APorter until July,
and at Fenwick until
September.
Is it worth holding
out for another
month? Definitely.
Seward’s CV is
impeccable: she
spent nine years at
Chanel (where,
incidentally, she
wore cocktail
dresses and heels
every day), enjoyed stints
at Saint Laurent and
Azzaro
(where
she
around £580). The sisters “wanted
to create something at an attainable
price with really simple, thought-out
designs in classic and recognisable
silhouettes”. In short, cotton
dresses with button detailing,
heavy khaki cotton-twill A-line
skirts, and poplin tunics, perfect
for layering.
Tell me more. “There was an
aesthetic missing – something
classic and American but not
in that heritage way,” Louisa
explains. The brand is more
about buying into a certain
lifestyle. It has menswear and
womenswear, and stand-out
accessories too. It’s cool, but
without trying too hard.
I’m sold, so where can I buy? The
brand started by only selling
through its site, trade-mark.com,
and has recently opened a store in
SoHo, New York; you can also get
it at Matchesfashion.com. SW
struggled to adapt to
a more casual dress
code), and most
recently won
legions of fans
with her range of
denim for A.P.C.
(when she finally
cracked the
desk-to-dinner
code). Her first
collection,
backed by A.P.C.
founder Jean
Touitou, is for
women “who
want to look
good, without
any other
message”.
Translation,
please. We’re
calling it laissezfaire luxe –
subtle crimpcollared knits,
bordeaux and rusthued silk dresses,
seriously flattering
high-waisted jeans,
and the perfect pair
of stacked-heel boots.
If you struggle to bridge
the smart-casual divide,
Seward’s are the clothes
for you.
How much will it set me
back? The prices take the
edge off clicking ‘‘confirm
order’’, ranging from £135
to £800. Sara McAlpine
Age: 18 months
Sounds immature. Far from it.
Its 36-year-old Malaysian founder
and designer Han Chong is a
graduate of Central Saint
Martins, but also of a previous
label, which he left when he didn’t
like the direction it took.
So where’s he headed
now? Most frequently to
China, where he sources
gorgeous lace and
chiffons to make his
amazingly affordable
collections. “If you
know where to look
you can get
incredible
workmanship in
China,” he says.
Would I like it? If
you love Erdem
and Valentino but
weep at the prices, this
will make your heart
soar. Ravishingly pretty
cocktail gowns, which
can double as wedding
dresses, cost around
£250. Slouchy
trousers in evening
fabrics and sexy tops
are less. No snob, he’s
as happy for the
Towie crew to wear
his clothes as the girlof-the-moment,
Game of Thrones’
Maisie Williams.
“Fashion should be
fun,” says Chong. “I
want to make beautiful
clothes that aren’t crazily
expensive.”
Where do I sign up? The
good news: based in east
London, Self-Portrait
already sells to 200
stores, including Bergdorf
Goodman and
Matchesfashion.com. The
bad: some styles sell out
within hours.
What’s he doing right?
It’s more a question of
what he’s not doing. “I’m
not trying to break
boundaries. I just want to
flatter women’s bodies
and make them feel
good.” Even his fit model
gets her say, and she’s
no bean pole. “She’s 5ft
6in and very fussy.” LA
6JNPUD
Age: 8 months
A whippersnapper? Sure is, in
age, and in fun factor, but the
brand is growing at a rate of
knots and is already sold in nine
countries. It will be available at
Matchesfashion.com in its first
season, from July, but in the
meantime you can buy from its
own website, yosuzi.com.
So what do they sell? It’s just
hats for the moment, but they
aim to expand in the future.
They’re not just hats, though;
these are Woma hats, woven in
Yosuzi’s native Venezuela.
Master weavers go through eight
years of training to perfect the
diagonal weaving and patterning
technique, with each hat taking
eight hours to make.
Are they really that authentic?
Yes, really – and you can check
out the website on which the
founder, Yosuzi Sylvester, 30,
has set up the Woma Project.
This documents her Guajiro
heritage, and depicts amazing
archive pictures of her greatgrandfather, Chief Yajaira, and
her grandmother, Flor
Emmanuela, the winner of the
first Miss Venezuela competition
in 1946, both wearing traditional
Woma hats.
Is there an ethical aspect?
Guajiro, where the hats are
made, is the second poorest
place in Latin America after Haiti.
Sylvester travels there often to
ensure the preservation of the
traditional crafts, and roughly 20
per cent of the company’s profits
go to an organisation dedicated
to providing healthcare, clothing
and education for the Guajiro
Indian children.
The hats look great – but how
do you pack them? These are
made of Iraka palm straw, so are
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Age: 5
Sounds like a trendy tweed
shop. Am I right? Nearly. It’s a
line of expertly tailored
separates, designed and
produced out of a glove
factory in Turin.
Gloves? Explain. The
founders are an Italian
brother and sister. Aldo, who
oversees production and
sales, and Giulia Acchiardi,
who designs all the
garments, were brought up
in the rag trade. Their greatgrandfather owns the glove
factory, so when they decided to
set up their own business, in
2010, it made sense to utilise the
family’s long-held knowledge of
Italian fabrics, not to mention
produce out of the 35-employee
factory.
Sounds logical. Tell me more
about these fabrics. Felted
wool, cashmere and jersey form
the core of the collection. Giulia,
28, calls her technique
“unstructured”, and tests
prototypes herself to root out
unflattering colours.
sturdier than a Panama hat. Just
stuff the crown with your
smalls, wrap a jumper around the
brim, and throw it in your
suitcase. Sophie Warburton
paintbox brights are the
highlights for autumn (with
equally palatable prices of
around £350 for a coat); our
favourites on sale at the
moment are pretty pastel
canvas jackets, ticking stripe
blazers and navy raffia
summer coats (from £200).
Ellie Pithers
She’s only 28? Yep, and
her brother’s a mere 26, but
they’ve already got two
shops in London and are
stocked in Dover Street
Market, Saks Fifth Avenue
and soon, Net-A-Porter.
What should I buy? Felted
Wool jackets and coats in