Huishan Zhang
It’s lucky that 35-year-old designer Huishan Zhang is a morning person: he’s up with the lark to make his daily 5.30am call to his 30-strong Qingdao atelier. “People think of China as a manufacturer of cheap goods, but I want to focus on craftsmanship,” he says of the decision to produce in his hometown. Zhang, who was hand-picked by Delphine Arnault to work in the leather goods and couture departments at Dior, post-graduation from Central Saint Martins, trained his workforce from scratch to exacting Parisian principles. His hyper-feminine, delicate designs (the ruffle-hemmed Jodie dress is a sell-out) have been popular since he launched in 2011, but 2018 is all about storytelling. “I want to inspire people,” he says.
Molly Goddard
Molly Goddard’s international fanbase executed a collective fist pump when the first picture broke of Rihanna in her highlighter-blue tulle dress, sunglasses on, striking a pose in a corridor. It was evidence of what Goddard’s devotees have always known: her signature frothy dresses in sugar-spun colours have a feisty spirit. “You couldn’t pay for better advertising,” the 29-year-old designer, who hand-smocked the custom dress for one of pop’s biggest stars, acknowledges. Goddard is one of fashion’s most frugal creatives, having meticulously managed her slow but sound expansion and her tiny, east-London-based team of four. But it almost never existed. Goddard failed her masters, and her brand is the happy accident of a party she threw where girls wore dresses she’d made. Dover Street Market subsequently placed an order. Is she proud of going it alone four years ago? “The brand just happened. I never even decided to call it ‘Molly Goddard’. I should have named it something wild!”
David Koma
Tbilisi-born David Koma seemed destined to be a tennis player – until he created his first “collection” aged 13, comprising three coats, and convinced his parents that his talents lay in design. Now, he dresses them: Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova are both fans of his form-fitting power pieces, and repeatedly call on him for red-carpet one-offs. “My dresses give them this extra strength,” says Koma, 32, who recently redoubled his efforts on the eponymous brand he founded straight out of Central Saint Martins in 2009, having enjoyed four years simultaneously heading up Mugler in Paris. He lives just “one cigarette” away from his Shoreditch studio (he smokes Vogues), and his label’s bestselling pieces are short and snappy to match, but Koma is keen to expand its repertoire. “I want to launch a pre-fall line and e-commerce,” he confirms.
Le Kilt
“We talk a lot about sustainability so it seems mad to stage a show that’s over in 40 minutes and thrown away,” says Sam McCoach, 31, of the decision not to show during London Fashion Week in February. Instead, the Edinburgh-born designer allocated her Le Kilt resources to an exhibition, staged during Craft Week in May, as well as a nationwide series of workshops educating customers on mending their clothes. Experimentation – which includes adding London- made denim and patchworked cashmere to the traditionally made Scottish kilts with which she launched – has paid off: sales are up. “I’ve realised I don’t need tons of newness every season – the newness just needs to be specific,” she says. Who else provides sage business advice? “Paul Smith told me you need to ‘walk like an Egyptian’ – it’s about balance,” she recalls. “And not letting hype run away with you.”
Rejina Pyo
Yolk yellow, with puffed sleeves and a nipped-in waist: Rejina Pyo’s Jamie dress was destined to be Insta-famous, and after a slew of street-style personalities made it a hit, it proved a firelighter for the 34-year-old designer’s nascent business. An offbeat femininity is Pyo’s calling card: her groove is juicy hued, with skewed buttons and quirky detailing, and now includes a line of statement-making accessories. (No wonder orders are doubling every season.) That savviness extends to business: “I make everything in Korea, where I’m from, and a free-trade agreement means we can export directly from Seoul.” Hiring to expand the British team to seven (with three more in Seoul), improving Instagram content and building e-commerce are all on the to-do list – the better to capitalise on customer data. “Erin Wasson ordered something from our site the other day. The Erin Wasson!” she squeals.
Marques Almeida
When Marta Marques, 31, and Paulo Almeida, 32, get bogged down running a fashion brand, one will hand the other “Perspective” – the nickname they give to their one-year-old daughter, Maria. “She keeps us grounded,” says Marta. “And reminds us we have a responsibility,” says Paulo. The duo pioneered diversity on the catwalk with their personality- led #MAGirls initiative, inviting friends of all shapes and backgrounds to represent the label. “It isn’t about looks only – it’s about lives. These are cool girls and we want them to feel good.” A clever distillation of offbeat effortlessness defines the clothes, from the frayed-edge denim that proved a jump lead, to the acid-hued quilted jackets, rock-star tailoring and feather- trimmed minidresses that now sustain its success. What have they learnt since they launched in 2011 and swelled to a team of 25? “Stick to your guns.”
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