Written and photographed by: Patricia Lee – Instagram: @patriciariel
Whether you knew that fashion month has just come to an end or not, if you’ve ever been to London, you’ll have realised how much fashion and the industry is woven into British culture.
For those who didn’t know, London was the first ever city to introduce a Fashion Week. As one of the ‘Big Four’ globally recognised fashion weeks (the others being New York, Milan and Paris), it’s a trade show event that stands out from the rest. It’s organised annually by the British Fashion Council, which is dedicated to supporting promising British designers and promoting and developing British fashion enterprises. It’s an event that mirrors the artistic diversity of the city as well its entrepreneurial enthusiasm. What sets it apart from the other big trade shows is that it doesn’t only rely on big name fashion houses that have resource to pump out full bi-annual catwalk collections – it’s an event that celebrates and helps cultivate the real stars of the show: junior designers and newcomers.
In light of the [fashion] season, we’ve taken this to heart. London-based print design studio St. Piece is just one of the many emerging talents that LFW houses at Brewer Street car park, its venue as of a year ago. The brand isn’t much older than that relationship either. Born in 2013, the brand just celebrated its second year at LFW in the Designer Showrooms and even showed at the Capsule x Paris sur Mode / Premiere Classe. St. Piece specialises in luxury silk accessories for men and women but also expanded into luxury jewellery and home ware – all designed in London. Their intricate print scarves are beautiful paintings observed on luxury materials like silk, cashmere and blended chiffon, all individually hand-roll hemmed in Cheshire.
St. Piece, a name chosen because ‘ST’ are the initials of the two founders, Creative Director Sandy Chang and Managing Director Ting Hsu, who create every offering as a ‘piece’ of art in itself.
Both have Taiwanese backgrounds and the brand obviously draws its creative inspiration from a diverse cultural palette. Sandy, a graduate from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design and Chelsea College of Art and Design, started her print design career at Alexander McQueen. The other half of the brand, Ting, has a PR and business background that has helped drive the brand to success. We were lucky to catch up with him at the Designer Showrooms to ask him about their inspiration for the upcoming collection:
“For this season we’re doing a lot – it’s spring! Flowers are our signature and so we always do flowers. We do add a bit more to each season so we did a bit more jewellery, a bit of vintage jewellery, and added some femininity and a bit of an edgy inspiration into the collection. And a lot of double-sided scarves with different colour waves. We are also blending different materials, like chiffon and cashmere in the collection…it makes it a little bit different!”
How many years have you been at London Fashion Week (LFW)?
“This is our fourth season, so this is our second year. We started LFW in Somerset and as it moved to the Brewer St. car park. We’re very excited to see what they do next!”
Why is LFW important to your brand?
“First and foremost we’re based in London. It’s the biggest platform for junior designers to showcase their collection and it probably is the most prestigious and most credible to show our collection at. We just love London. I moved to London when I was 9 and this is home for me. It’s really happy to be part of the British fashion culture family. Everything here is made in England. We don’t make anything elsewhere. I try very hard to make sure we can find a local factory. Our shirts are actually made in London! It’s actually just 25 minutes away [from here] in an uber! “
London-based, truly.
You can find the finest luxury print scarves at www.stpiece.com