Palmer Harding S/S 2012 Film | Source: Palmer Harding

LONDON, United Kingdom — Designed by Matthew Harding, 27, and Levi Palmer, 30, Palmer Harding made its debut at London Fashion Week last September, focusing on the power of a crisp white shirt. With this simple, savvy strategy, compulsive attention to detail and wizard-like skills for sculpting Swiss cotton, the men’s and women’s shirt label quickly garnered healthy international interest.

While white shirts are at the core of Palmer Harding, the designers stress that the brand’s vision is not limited to one type of garment. “We’re not just a white shirt company. We’re a designer brand that starts with shirts,” explained Harding. But not wanting to add noise to a crowded fashion market, or take on too much, too soon, the duo aim to perfect their shirts, a piece of clothing they feel is often neglected, before moving on to a full line.

“It’s easier to start a business having one focused thing. I think [people feel] there’s a need to rush in fashion. But we’re going to take our time,” he continued. “And when we do branch out into other aspects, we want them to highlight the beauty of the shirt. We don’t want to detract from what our core brand is about,” added Palmer.

The Texas-born Palmer and London native Harding met in 2007 while studying at Central Saint Martins. The pair strike a smart balance with their contrasting fortes: Palmer, who credits his American upbringing for his rational, realistic approach to design, obtained a degree in pattern cutting from Dallas’ El Centro College before going on to get a BA in menswear from Saint Martins, while Harding, the dreamer of the pair, received both his BA and MA in womenswear from Saint Martins. Both designers enjoyed flourishing freelance careers at high street companies before launching their own line. And while they had toyed with the idea of starting their own fashion line for some time, it was a 2011 ANDAM nomination that prompted them to take the leap. “At the time, we didn’t have a business. We didn’t have a label. We got [the nomination] on the back of my MA collection, which Levi worked on,” said Harding.

As for perfecting their shirts, the duo is well on their way. For Spring 2011, they sifted through 300 different types of cotton before finding the perfect fabric, sourced from a mill in Switzerland. Offering his and hers shirts in white, dusty mint and grey, the designers found inspiration in vintage couture, as well as photographs of youthful delinquents by Ingar Krauss, inputs which materialised in corrugated pleats – each of which are separated by rubber-coated metal hardware – grosgrain details and precise silhouettes.

Palmer Harding for BoF

For our Spotlight this month, the duo have created a custom BoF logo that beautifully captures the quiet elegance and smart simplicity of their work.

“The main craftsmanship is done by us and there’s something special about that. I think it’s much more personal that way,” said Harding. In order to save money, the dedicated designers live and work out of a quaint studio in Harding’s parents home on the outskirts of London. But their efforts are paying off. Their inaugural collection is now stocked at Joyce in Hong Kong, Concerto in Tokyo and online at Avenue32.

As we look forward to their Autumn/Winter 2012 collection, to be unveiled at London Fashion Week next month and for which the designers are making their first foray into shirtdresses, we wish Palmer Harding the very best of luck for what’s sure to be a bright future.

This month’s BoF Spotlight was written by freelance fashion journalist Katharine K. Zarrella.

Song For The Mute S/S 2012 | Source: Song For The Mute

SYDNEY, Australia — This month, the BoF Spotlight turns to Song for the Mute, an Australian menswear label founded by graphic artist Melvin Tanaya and Accademia Italiana Di Moda-trained designer Lyna Ty, whose sleek, modern clothes and unconventional approach to traditional fabrics made them the first ever menswear brand to win the prestigious Designer Award earlier this year at the L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival, an accolade previously awarded to Australian fashion industry favourite Dion Lee.

“It’s about modern proportions, exhaustive attention to detail and, above all, a continuous re-interpretation of traditional fabrics through pure construction and new shapes that heighten the natural qualities of the fabric,” said Ty, the brand’s creative director, on the label’s aesthetic. “But we wouldn’t be able to do all this amazing development with fabrics if it weren’t for AWI,” added Tanaya, referring to an important partnership the duo has established with Australian Wool Innovation Limited, a non-profit organization owned by over 29,000 Australian woolgrowers that invests in research, development, innovation and marketing along the global supply chain for Australian wool.

As well as fabric, Song for the Mute are constantly inspired by nature, something the designers drew upon when selecting a shell as the central element in a custom BoF logo they created for this month’s Spotlight. The white stroke that cuts across the image references the label’s logo, a graphical representation of a lifeline.

But alongside the pull of creative inspiration, Song for the Mute’s current vision is rooted in a business opportunity that was spotted by Tanaya while working at Sydney menswear store Harrolds, where he observed up close that the once conservative tastes of Australian men were rapidly evolving.

“The opportunity to be a part of the Harrolds team has given me the chance to examine this market first hand,” he said. “Seeing Harrolds’ gutsy and directional buys and seeing these pieces fly out the door confirmed our belief that there was a real gap within the Australian market for more modern menswear.”

This observation appears to have been right on, as the line has been gaining traction and is now stocked by a number of Australian retailers including Harrolds, Fallow, Dirtbox and Dilettante, as well as INK in Hong Kong, Ayin in Osaka, Entrance in Romania and online retailers For-Tomorrow.

But launching a fashion label in Australia — a country that is seasonally opposite to the world’s largest markets in the Northern Hemisphere — has not been without its challenges. “The major disadvantage of being in opposite seasons with the rest of the world would be time,” said Tanaya. “Our turnaround times for bulk production versus creating new collections are much closer together and this can be really challenging to control,” he continued. However, being based in Australia does have an upside, allowing the designers to perform “test runs” on collections in their home market before they are presented to the Northern Hemisphere a few months later.

While they have no immediate plans to launch womenswear, Song for the Mute have recently expanded into accessories. “We have done a backpack in AW11 which was received quite well,” said Ty. “We have also collaborated with the Melbourne-based jewelry label Henson creating our first capsule range of jewelry for Spring-Summer 2012 and are currently in talks with an amazing shoemaker to discuss the possibility of doing our own footwear line early next year.”

As they continue to expand their business, it is with great pleasure that we shine this month’s BoF Spotlight on Song for the Mute.

The Spotlight is BoF’s showcase for emerging talent who employ creativity and business acumen to make their mark in the fashion business. This month’s Spotlight was written by freelance fashion writer Corbin Chamberlin.

Malene Oddershede Bach S/S 2012 | Source: Malene Oddershede Bach

LONDON, United Kingdom — This month, the BoF Spotlight turns to Malene Oddershede Bach, the Denmark-born, London-based designer whose meticulously constructed Spring-Summer collection of architectural-yet-feminine silhouettes, textured knits, silks and cottons, and vivid, unexpected prints stood out at Vauxhall Fashion Scout’s ‘Ones to Watch’ show this season.

Oddershede Bach’s spring colour palette of electric pink, turquoise, yellow and black — “it’s always important to have a few black pieces,” said the savvy newcomer — was inspired by psychedelic films, specifically Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void, while unconventional details like sculpted shoulders and deliberately misplaced arm slits were influenced by the uneasy, psychological horror films of David Cronenberg. “The shoulder details come from the idea of the self not feeling complete,” said Oddershede Bach.

But perhaps most promising of all are her digital prints, created from magnified images of powdery yellow butterfly wings and turquoise mouse intestines, two elements which the designer used to personally create a custom BoF logo for this month’s Spotlight.

“All my prints are created by repeating images of organisms normally invisible to the human eye, which the viewers can interpret in their own way,” Oddershede Bach explained.

And while her Spring/Summer 2011 collection introduced a number of new elements, like chain beading and sophisticated bra-panel dresses, Oddershede Bach also maintained the signature pieces that were well received in her graduate collection, like strong-shouldered leather jackets.

In November, Oddershede Bach’s work will be stocked by new online retailer Silkfred — which describes itself as a “social shoptending community for designers” — with more stockists on the way.

It is with great pleasure that we shine this month’s BoF Spotlight on Malene Oddershede Bach.

This month’s BoF Spotlight was written by freelance fashion journalist Katharine K. Zarrella.

InAisce S/S 2012 | Source: InAisce

NEW YORK, United States — This month, the BoF Spotlight turns to InAisce, the New York-based anti-trend menswear label launched by Colorado native Jona (first name only) whose poetic and meticulously crafted work — simultaneously forward-looking and artisanal — first caught our eye at New York boutique If. “InAisce doesn’t fit into a category,” Jona told BoF, speaking at his design studio on the fourth floor of a former factory building in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighbourhood. “I’m neither Gareth Pugh, nor an Italian artisan.”

Rather, InAisce (pronounced “in-ask-ee”) manages to unite these very different approaches, creating dark, modern, architectural looks that also feel natural, organic and full of passion for history and place. “The man-made, architectural aspect comes from my actual surroundings,” said Jona, gesturing to the industrial environment around him. “The natural part comes from what I’m experiencing in my head — my imagination and my memories of times in Colorado, Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan,” he continued.

InAisce for BoF

For this month’s Spotlight, Jona has transformed the BoF logo with a textured tree stump. “I like the woods and I like wood,” he said. “I like the textures that you find in stones, earth and trees,” he added, underscoring the importance of natural elements in his work.

Jona’s extensive travels in Europe and Asia have also been a significant influence on his collections. “I start from [sic] feeling, which for me often means a place,” he said. But for Spring-Summer 2012, rather than focusing on one specific place, Jona unveiled a collection named “An Aeon Drifting,” inspired by the feeling of itinerant homelessness: shifting from place to place.

Over the last decade, Jona has lived and worked in a number of countries, from Italy to Indonesia, but his connection to Japan is surely the strongest. “I fell in love,” he said of the relationship he has developed with the country. In particular, he identifies deeply with the way Japanese society values quality, craftsmanship and attention to detail, something that shows in his work and explains why Jona insists on keeping his production close to home, so he can personally oversee every detail. “It’s all in New York, except for shoes,” he said.

Japan has also played a key role in InAisce’s birth and fledgling success as a business. “Basically, my ‘in’ was in Japan,” said Jona, recalling how the head designer at rising Japanese label Julius, where he once interviewed for a job, encouraged him to start his own business, offering invaluable support, introductions and mentoring. “I think for the Japanese, fashion is a serious business. There’s little glamour and show and a bit more traditional business practice,” he said. “I learned to be pragmatic from day one and through much mentorship and advice was able to develop a profitable business quickly,” he continued.

Unlike many young brands who are tempted to rush into spending their limited time and resources on staging runway shows and generating buzz, Jona has focused on building a small, but sustainable business with strong foundations. “I believe in building the company from really solid product and sales, rather than showing and PR,” said Jona.

The approach appears to be is working. InAisce is stocked at a number of avant-garde boutiques like Layers in London, as well as large department stores like Isetan in Tokyo. The brand has also found resonance with a surprising number of women, which has inspired Jona to make a small number of womens pieces each season.

With the label set to stage an installation-style presentation on 14 September at New York Fashion Week, it is with much pleasure that we shine our Spotlight on InAisce and wish Jona the very best of luck in pursuing his unconventional, expertly crafted vision.

The Spotlight is BoF’s showcase for emerging talent employing creativity and business acumen to make their mark in the fashion business.

Flaminia Saccucci Graduate Collection | Source: Flaminia Saccucci

LONDON, United Kingdom — This month, we shine the BoF Spotlight on print designer Flaminia Saccucci, whose symphony of printed latex garments — inspired by the sexiness of rubber, the masculinity of tyres and the feminine fragility of wild flowers — snagged her the L’Oréal Professional Young Talent Award for the best student collection at the Central Saint Martins BA graduate show a few weeks back.

Speaking with BoF, the young Italian described her aesthetic as “sharp, clean, but with a twist, and always balanced,” something which was particularly evident in the way her breakthrough collection harmoniously blended synthetic materials with natural florals.

But creating the collection was no simple task. Using a three colour separation screen printing technique to create the intricate floral prints and grappling with latex that can shrink during printing, Saccucci persisted until she achieved the effect she was looking for. Perfectly placing the tyre track prints was equally challenging. Saccucci’s perseverance in the print room seems to reflect her general work ethic. “You just have to never give up,” said Saccucci.

For this month’s Spotlight, Saccucci has personally embellished the BoF logo with a tyre track encircling a fresh pink tulip, her current collection’s two signature prints. “These are the two contrasting elements that best represent what my collection is about,” explained Saccucci.

Following her successful debut, Saccucci has been inundated with attention from talent scouts and buyers. But she is keen to consider her options carefully before making any major career decisions, such as starting her own label or joining a design house. “I’m so young, this is just the beginning — I don’t want to take the wrong step, because I want this to last,” she explained. “When you’re in such a fortunate position of having all these possibilities, you want to make the right choice.”

While Saccucci is not currently receiving any professional business or career advice, preferring to seek out opinions from those she trusts and make her own decisions, she has racked up some substantial real-life experience with a series of internships at Balmain, Viktor & Rolf, Alberta Ferretti and Alexander McQueen.

Saccucci also has a refreshing a sense of humility, despite being critically acclaimed at just twenty five years old, admitting that her passion for design stems from creating toilet paper dresses for her dolls when she was a little girl. Indeed, she seems firmly focused on the quality of her work, rather than the hype surrounding it. “I never expected to win the L’Oréal award,” she said incredulously. “I had this dream of making the press show, but I didn’t even think of prizes!”

Saccucci intends on using the cash award to advance her career, perhaps by seeking further education or establishing her own label, later on in life. Whichever path she chooses, we wish Flaminia Saccucci the best of luck and eagerly await her next collection, whether it’s crafted from toilet paper, latex or lustrous silk.

The Spotlight is BoF’s showcase for emerging talent who employ creativity and business acumen to make their mark in the fashion business. This month’s Spotlight was written by Charlie Byrne, an M.A. student in Fashion Journalism at Central St. Martins and an editorial intern at The Business of Fashion.

Huishan Zhang A/W RTW 2011 | Source: Huishan Zhang

LONDON, United Kingdom — One of the greatest aspects of teaching at Central Saint Martins (apart from walking its hallowed halls) is having a first look at the strong talent that the College manages to attract from around the world, and then witnessing (often with amazement!) how that talent develops over time. The strongest students take advantage of all that CSM has to offer, and in the process, discover their own design voice and signature.

One such example is the talented, Chinese-born Huishan Zhang, who attended one of my very first lectures at CSM a few years back and graduated with a BA in Fashion Design & Marketing in 2010. Since then, Huishan has been proactive about keeping in touch as he made decisions about both the business and design direction he wished to take with his own brand. He is a young designer who listens to the advice offered to him by an informal group of well-connected mentors who he has personally sought out to advise him. Listening is a skill sorely lacking in many young designers, who years later often say, “I wish I had listened…”

In April, Zhang showed me his first ready-to-wear collection for sale to the international market. I was impressed with the polish and cohesive aesthetic of his work, but also that he has it all manufactured in China and priced as accessible luxury. Still, to showcase the skills he learned while interning at Christian Dior, Zhang also produces a couture collection with the same signature balance between Chinese aesthetic and pattern-cutting, and Western levels of quality and craftsmanship. The pattern-cutting is particularly genius. As is the case with traditional East Asian dress such as kimonos and cheongsams, everything can be transformed from flat 2D shapes laid out on the floor into 3D silhouettes on the body.

Huishan Zhang for BoF

For this month’s BoF Spotlight, Zhang created a striking dragon logo, referencing a print from his couture collection which was reflected in hundreds of individually sewn sequins.

“In China the dragon represents power, strength, good luck and is regarded as a deep rooted symbol of the Chinese culture. In Western society, the dragon is considered as a symbol of China,” explains Huishan. “It’s the perfect emblem to marry the cultures portrayed in my collections, highlighting the main values behind every garment and every woman who wears them.. power, strength and culture.”

Incidentally, we’re not the only ones who are excited about this young man’s future. Because Magazine published a cute video with Huishan earlier this month and Browns boutique in London’s Sloane Street has picked up Zhang’s A/W 2011 collection exclusively, where it will sit alongside the likes of Azzedine Alaia, another genius patterncutter.

The Spotlight is BoF’s showcase for emerging talent employing creativity and business acumen to make their mark in the fashion business.

Tze Goh detail | Source: Tze Goh

LONDON, United Kingdom — This month, the BoF Spotlight turns to Singapore-born, London-based designer Tze Goh, whom we first came across during London Fashion Week at Vauxhall Fashion Scout’s ‘Ones to Watch.’ show. In fashion, designers often combine multiple points of reference in a single collection to give their clothes a more novel and appealing context. But Goh takes a more tightly focused approach to his work.

“I don’t really understand why there are so many themes in a collection; there’s no real reason for that,” said Goh, who trained at the Parsons New School of Design in New York and Paris, before completing his MA at Central Saint Martins in London. “For me, fashion is all about changing the silhouette of a person.”

To achieve his minimal, shape-shifting vision, Goh purposefully restricts his conceptual inputs. “I typically have one or two ideas and I work within those boundaries to make sure that the result is focused,” said Goh.

For Autumn/Winter 2011, he was inspired by the Japanese kimono and the sleek interiors of Porsche sports cars to create a tonal, minimally winsome collection that manages to be simultaneously clinical and sensual. There are grey coats with seams that make them undulate about the shoulders, navy blue shifts with arm-framing sleeves, black vests and coats with twisted lapels that are feats of tailoring and geometric charcoal jackets with voluptuous sleeves.

“I take the meaning out of garments so they don’t have so much semantics,” explained Goh. “I only focus on the shapes that they give women.”

Tze Goh for BoF

Goh uses luxurious fabrics like wool and mohair. But to achieve the rigorous, molded structure some of his pieces demand, he sometimes makes his own materials, for example, bonding virgin wool and cashmere with 3D jersey to create slightly more rigid fabrics.

But while Goh’s work is rich in technique and innovation, his end goal is simple: to create practical clothing that’s stylistically sustainable. “I want to give women clothes that don’t shock, but are compatible with their own lives,” said Goh. “It’s something they can use for quite a bit of time, but they’re still new.”

At BoF, we wish Goh the very best of luck in pursuing his minimal, structural vision as we shine the BoF Spotlight on his contemporary silhouettes, available at our favourite new store in London, LN-CC.

The Spotlight is BoF’s showcase for emerging talent employing creativity and business acumen to make their mark in the fashion business

Quilya Necklace | Source: Maryam Keyhani

TORONTO, Canada — Artistry runs in Maryam Keyhani’s blood.

“There is nothing I can do but to make things with my hands,” she says. “But it is hard to make money from art,” a lesson she learned at the age of 13, going from gallery to gallery to help sell her father’s artwork shortly after she and her family moved to Canada from Tehran.

“I wasn’t doing  it for fun, it was for survival,” but there were many lessons learned, says the budding jewelery designer who studied sculpture and painting at the Ontario College of Art and Design.

“Selling his work has made me more assertive today. I am a creative person, but I am constantly thinking about the business side too.” It doesn’t hurt that her husband — my former McGill classmate, Ali Karbassi — has two business degrees and has been helping to get her business off the ground.

But even with all the business chops in the world, no upstart fashion business is going to take off without a great product, and it is here that Maryam really excels.

Maryam’s jewelery caught my eye for its creative use of mixed materials that make a statement, without looking flashy. Keyhani says it works best on a minimalist canvas from the likes of Celine and Givenchy.

Keyhani first imagined her jewelery in her paintings while living in Paris, and then sought out to make her painterly dreams a reality, sourcing feathers and materials from flea markets to make the pieces for herself. Soon, people started asking to place personal orders and Keyhani was making more money from her jewelery than she was from her full-time job. A business was born.

This season, her collection was picked up by the prestigious Valery Demure showroom whose website says:  “You can spot a Maryam Keyhani from a mile off, the way you recognise a De Kooning or a Dali from across a long, white room.”

We agree. This month, we are delighted to feature Maryam’s stunning Quilya necklace in our BoF Spotlight. I am sure you’ll agree the results are beautiful.

The Spotlight is BoF’s showcase for emerging talent employing creativity and business acumen to make their mark in the fashion business.

Louise Amstrup S/S 2011 | Source: Louise Amstrup

LONDON, United Kingdom — London Fashion Week continues to be the world’s premier platform for emerging fashion talent. And while Danish-born, London-based designer Louise Amstrup isn’t yet on the official LFW schedule, we think she should be.

Last season, Amstrup’s show — sponsored by On|Off, a platform for emerging fashion talent that presented the designer with the Visionary Award for 2010 and has previously showcased designers like Mark Fast and Peter Pilotto — hit all the right notes.

Inspired by the darkness lurking amidst the sun-drenched glare of the American desert and a vision of a strong woman traversing “dusty roads and carcass-covered plains” (the press notes referenced Sissy Spacek in Badlands and Marianne Sägebrecht in Bagdad Café), the collection was exceptionally crafted and communicated a clear aesthetic vision.

“I’m often inspired by a certain mood or colours in movies,” Ms. Amstrup told BoF. “From there I build my own story and concept… the ‘story’ often has a leading role, based on a strong yet vulnerable woman.”

Ms. Amstrup rendered the duality of her vision in starkly contrasting materials and colours. Sky blues, dirty pastels and sandy yellows were set against blacks and purples. Soft silks and Broderie Anglaise contrasted the hardness of leather and thick cotton. And Amstrup’s signature paneling alternated between soothing solids and digital prints depicting thunder storms, rocks and vulture feathers.

What’s more, the collection beautifully balanced creative success with commercial savvy, managing to feel both contemporary and feminine in the same breath. Indeed, Opening Ceremony in New York, Nag People in Copenhagen, Runway in Azerbaijan and ASOS in the UK are amongst the retailers who have snapped up Louise Amstrup for Spring.

Amstrup, who studied at Dusseldorf’s Akademie Mode and Design, worked with the late Alexander McQueen, Jonathan Saunders, and Sophia Kokosalaki before establishing her label in 2006. And while led by her innate curiosity and personal vision, Ms. Amstrup is also rather practical: “Each season I look at what I think worked last season, which ideas on a conceptual level and technical level can be pushed further and which I should put on a shelf for a while.”

On her future plans, Ms. Amstrup said: “I would definitely like to do a diffusion line soon,” mentioning the success of a moderately priced collaboration she did for “ASOS Hub,” an initiative which featured a number of capsule collections created by emerging design talents including Ostwald Helgason, Holly Fulton, Amstrup and others. She adds: “My scarves, belts and hats are also doing really well, so accessories is also something I’d like to focus more on.”

As we eagerly await her Autumn-Winter collection, to be shown in London on February 19 as part of On|Off, it is with much pleasure that we shine our Spotlight on Louise Amstrup and highlight, in our logo, the entrancing digital prints that have become a recurring theme in her work. At BoF, we think Ms. Amstrup is one to watch!

The Spotlight is BoF’s showcase for emerging talent employing creativity and business acumen to make their mark in the fashion business.

Horse Sculpture | Source: Jordan Askill

LONDON, United Kingdom — Listening to Jordan Askill speak about his intricate jewelry is something like listening to a fantastical storyteller who magically transports you to a mythical, far away land, filled with surprise and beauty at every turn.

“I don’t feel there is any reason to create something without a real purposeful story that can at least resonate at some emotional level,” says Askill, a former assistant designer to Hedi Slimane at Dior Homme, where Askill first honed his very precise luxury sensibility.

Askill’s high-concept jewelry designs — each one the result of a multi-faceted creative process incorporating organic sculpture, handcrafted materials, and cutting-edge technologies — create genuine emotional connections with luxury consumers drawn to the stories embedded within each and every piece.

For Askill, the creative process begins with his own sculptures. “Every shape in the jewelry is made using the sculptures, but I try to find a way to augment it,” he explains. “I like the idea of using the exact sculpture because it’s kind of like going back to the original source, like a piece of jewelry or stone.”

Using 3D scanning technology to capture the physical dimensions of his original sculpture, he digitally manipulates, replicates and reinterprets the original shapes into striking jewelry designs, which are produced in collaboration with craftsmen in London’s Hatton Gardens jewelry quarter and a small factory in Upper Clapton.

Animals also play a prominent role in Askill’s designs. “I have this idea of animals being able to protect you. I was always dreaming with these animals, always trying to create something else out of them,” he recalls.

“Animals like swallows have a universal connection with people. People want to buy the horse sculpture because they are equestrian artists. They want to buy the panther pieces because there is something rough, raw…”

This month, Jordan’s stunning panther ring sits proudly in our BoF Spotlight, just as he begins the real push on his secondary line, Jordy by Jordan Askill, which will include a close collaboration with Opening Ceremony this year.

We wish Jordan the best of luck, although from the sounds of his growing list of prestigious stockists — Liberty and Matches in London, Colette in Paris and Opening Ceremony in New York, Los Angeles, and Tokyo — he probably won’t need it!

The Spotlight is BoF’s showcase for emerging talent employing creativity and business acumen to make their mark in the fashion business.