BEHIND THE SEAMS
THE MAKING OF OUR LATEST COLLECTION
There’s excitement in our South London office. Our designers are looking at the final pieces of our latest collection. Tiered dresses that tumble over boho-style boots. Half tucked tops falling over wide, cropped jeans. The pieces look beautiful. And we grabbed a moment with the design team to chat about how they made them.
“So it all started when we went to an exhibition at Tate Modern for Hilma af Klint,” Sophie, Print Lead, explains. “We all really loved the optimism and the tones used in her artworks. And that formed the basis of our colour palette and got us thinking about how we can spark joy using print.”
“I actually saw her in the Guggenheim in New York a couple of years ago,” Alex, Senior Designer, adds. “And it was amazing. She does these super large-scale, expressively hand-drawn paintings.” The print designers went away and imagined her paint palette. Terracotta and tangerine. Lilac and inky navy. Charcoal grey, just like a sketcher doodling on a canvas.
“In her work her symbols have ulterior meanings. There’s lots of swirls and almost snail shells that represent eternity,” Sophie describes. “We were leafing through the print archive in our studio. It’s our treasure trove of vintage finds. And we came across this lovely vintage print that used the kind of symbols we saw in Hilma’s work. So inspired by both, we went away to produce our print, the hero pattern of the collection. We came up with these unique geo-prints that capture the sense of playfulness we saw on Hilma’s canvases.”
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
“We named the collection ‘artist’s studio’ because we were channelling artists and what makes us, as creatives, tick,” Sophie reveals.
“I think you can never really switch off from inspiration,” Beth, Designer, explains.
“I agree. Inspiration is everywhere,” Alex says. “I could be rummaging through rails or on holiday and I see something amazing. Or I'm in this tiny little boutique and notice some gorgeous artwork on the floor. You never switch off.”
CATWALK TO CLOTHES RAIL
The designers look at the runways and identify key trends for the season, and their top five silhouettes for each product category. “Then we blend our favourite products, the ones we’re known for at White Stuff, with the trends,” Alex explains.
“With our Elle dress, the hero dress of the whole collection, we saw this tiered silhouette really coming through on the catwalk,” Beth says. “And what’s really new is the tiers are much smaller than usual. Normally it’s one deep tier,” Alex adds.
“And the print mixing is so clever,” Sophie says.
“And I’d want a clutch bag either in a pop of orange or a lovely light blue, to bring out the colours of the dress.” The whole collection is designed to be transitional, to bring you seamlessly from summer right now to later when it’s autumn, without having to change your wardrobe. The designers talk about adding accessories in pale colours to bring out the lighter colours of the prints, then switching to darker accessories and adding boots once autumn sets in.
“It’s all about the details at White Stuff,” Beth says. “With our new weekend jeans, for example, we’ve added a branded back patch made of mushrooms.” Alex giggles. “It’s actually the newest way to do a sustainable patch. As you wash it, it gets almost more vintage looking as well.”
The designs for this collection are all about sparking joy. Little details to discover. Prints that feel expressive and organic. Colour combinations you wouldn’t have necessarily thought about, but that really work. “It’s like we were imagining Hilma in her artist’s studio,” Sophie sums up. “The joy she felt in being creative, that’s the joy we’ve brought to this collection.”