LFW: Fashion Scout – Ones To Watch SS19
Fashion Scout’s collaborative showcase, Ones To Watch, has a long
reputation for propelling hot new designers onto the London Fashion Week
scene and the three designers taking part for its spring/summer 2019 show
were no exception, with Argentine brand Nous Etudions and Croatian Price on
Request both showing their ethical credentials, while Greek twins Eirini
and Dimitra behind Aucarre placed its emphasis on feminine power by
elevating and giving a voice to all women.
The Ones to Watch platform was the starting point for numerous designers
currently on-schedule at London Fashion Week from Malene Oddershede Bach to
Eudon Choi, and FashionUnited chatted to the latest additions to the
prestigious line-up following their debuts on the catwalk at their
collaborative show at Fashion Scout’s Freemasons’ Hall location.
Nous Etudions
Founded by designer Romi Cardillo in 2014 in Argentina, Nous Etudions’
philosophy is linked to sustainability, veganism and non-gender traditions,
and the spring/summer 2019 collection showcased its bold aesthetic of
oversized tailoring and textured layering, as well as its experimentation
of handmade textiles.
“For me, having a collection that is ethical is part of my life, as I’m
vegan,” explained Cardillo following the show. “I worked with a company in
Argentina where all their process are sustainable and I don’t use any
animal skin, and in this collection I showcased a new Nous biotextile,
which has been made from kombucha, which other sustainable brands including
Stella McCartney have been using.”
Entitled ‘Creatures of the Universe,’ the spring/summer collection takes
inspiration from nature, shapes and textures, as well as Cardillo’s love of
her country, which the designer stated “really comes through in the
colours” of the bold collection, where pastel hues are accented with a
striking blue, yellow, green and gold colour palette.
As well as the striking colour palette and oversized prominent
silhouettes, Nous Etudions really stood out in the emerging designer
showcase for its use of experimental techniques and fabrications, such as
its use of the Nous biotextile, a new textile that has been created in
collaboration with Franco Nencini, who researched the development of a
textile based on black tea, sugar, and a handful of micro-organisms that
fermented and created cellulose.
This new raw material, an alternative to leather, was used across the
brand’s deconstructed tailoring, highlighted beautifully on a pale pink
oversized tailored coat and its complementary line of accessories, both
featuring laser cut out detailing.
Cardillo added: “One of my favourite things from this collection are the
bags, as I’ve had the problem where I can’t buy accessories because it is
leather, so I decided to design my own, and I made them part of the
outfits.”
Concluding the interview, Cardillo expressed her joy at showing during
London Fashion Week, saying: “It’s a dream for me to be showing in London,
because when I was little I visited here and I saw the people, and I loved
how much freedom they had with their clothes, and it made me want to have a
clothing brand to showcase here.
“It has been a dream come true.
Before launching Nous Edutions, Cardillo, a fashion design graduate from
Universidad Argentina de la Empresa, founded menswear label Group 134,
which was the first vegan brand in Argentina that worked with Greenpeace on
their first peace campaign in Argentina on the production of the leather
tannery.
Aucarre
With a background in bimolecular and genetic science, Greek twins Eirini
and Dimitra Skalidaki, turned their attention to fashion design and went
onto study at Central Saint Martins to pursue their dreams of becoming
fashion designers. The design duo founded Aucarre, following internships at
Mary Katrantzou, Gucci and Chanel, with the aim of showcasing a brand that
emphasises feminine power by empowering women with its bold, romanticism
silhouettes and dramatic aesthetic.
“We’ve always been into fashion, we love drawing, but science is more
popular at home, and we have family in sciences so we wanted to follow in
their footsteps,” explained Dimitra, following the Ones to Watch showcase.
“But at the same time we still always had this creativity within us to make
beautiful things and this led us to London and to Saint Martins, which was
a really great experience and we found ourselves able to pursue our fashion
dreams.”
Eirini added: “We do believe that science and art are the same, science
can save a life, while fashion can save the soul and be empowering, and
that’s what we hope we bring with our designs.”
For their spring/summer 2019 collection, ‘Feminine Surrealism’ the
design duo were inspired by femininity and surrealism, creating bold
silhouettes featuring oversized floral prints and patterns, and hand-drawn
motives to present a fearless, dynamic, strong woman.
Dimitra explained: “Feminine Surrealism is a super-real world that
creates the ideal woman stimulated by her everyday image, so we can create
a different idea of what a woman is, by showing a refreshing look at her
alter-ego. We created this by using elements like flowers, sparkle
fabrications, prints and lace to symbolise her beauty and vitality.”
The designs had a cinematic appeal, with statement floral prints
accented with dramatic ruffles, textured fabrications, as well as bold
colours.
“This was our first show,” added the sisters. “It has been so exciting
and the best experience- we can’t thank the Fashion Scout team enough for
being super supportive and helping us make our mark in the industry.”
Price on Request
Based in Zagreb, Croatia, Price on Request is an award-winning
multi-gender brand founded by Gala Marija Vrbanic, with the aim of
designing clothes that “speak to courageous and bold” people in the
Instagrammable age, while still making fashion accountable to the
ever-growing waste it produces.
“Everything in this collection has been recycled,” explains Marija
Vrbanic, as all the pieces have been selected from the archives of her
mother’s 30-year-old Croatian brand Xenia Designs and then reinvented to
make them “modern and appealing”.
Marija Vrbanic added: “I don’t have an exact sense of inspiration, I do
things I like, things think people want to wear, and the only research I
do, is whether I feel good while wearing it, as well as it being cool.
“I took the pieces that were unsold from my mum’s fashion brand, which
were just sitting there and reverted them – changed the silhouettes, the
prints and the function of the piece.”
For instance, a statement orange top was created using a thick thermal
foil that was wrapped around a plain black shirt, which created its unique
pattern once the first wearer wore it and stretched it apart, “the piece
adjusts to the body – so it is always unique,” Marija Vrbanic explains.
Each garment is altered in a series of phases, the Croatian designer
added, the first being to change the intention of the piece by turning it
into a garment with a different function, followed by changing the
silhouette, and then the final phase is to add decoration with
embellishment and print.
“The main objective for Price on Request is to improve the functionality
of garments, giving every piece a story and a journey, while also doing our
best to stop pollution and waste within the fashion industry.”
Marija Vrbanic, a graduate of Zagreb’s School of Design, founded Price
on Request in 2016 and the brand has been recognised with a 2017 ELLE Style
Award in Croatia and the Fashion Scout South East Europe 2018 Award, which
led to the brand being featured as part of Ones to Watch.
Images: courtesy of Fashion Scout