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LONDON COUTURIERS ARE FINDING YOUNG PEOPLE KEEN TO LEARN THE PAINSTAKING CRAFT INVOLVED big couture houses of Paris, whose local customer base has dwindled severely, the designer is often more at arm’s length. Prices may also be a factor of anything between two and ten times higher than in London, which causes pause for even this elevated demographic. Not that quality is inferior. London has long had seamstresses and beaders and, of course, tailors well equal to the task of producing exquisite standards, but until recently they were an ageing workforce. Now couturiers are finding young people keen to learn the painstaking crafts involved partly because, says Oakwell, who already has beaders in training and hopes eventually to offer apprenticeships, “they haven’t grown up with them so they are fascinated by the idea, and they are prepared to put in the hard work and have the patience necessary.” Emilia Wickstead (emiliawickstead.com), whose elegant, often sweeping dresses are worn by Catherine Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge and Sophie Rhys-Jones, the Countess of Wessex, has young interns who, she says, “sometimes become full-time staff, under the watchful eye of craftsmen with 20 or 30 years experience, who work to our exacting standards”. She has recently outgrown her elegant Belgravia salon and moved to an equally beautiful but more spacious premises on grand thoroughfare Sloane Street. Some designers are benefitting from the shrinkage in Paris couture by employing craftsmen and seamstresses with industry experience who are happy to join London’s growing French community, which today numbers over 300,000, according to the French consulate. The city now has virtually all couture crafts: Oakwell goes to Paris only for handmade leather flowers, while Alexander McQueen (alexandermcqueen.com) (a top British international name that, like Vivienne Westwood, has opened a couture studio) has its most intricate embroidery done in India, where Lesage, the world’s top embroidery and beading house, has ateliers. Some couturiers even create their own fabrics. Anna Valentine (annavalentine.com), a favourite of Camilla Parker- Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall, as well as a roster of high-flying international businesswomen who love her understated modern style, creates wonderful effects with layers of chiffon enclosing corded embroidery. “Clients love fittings, being in a creative zone, watching it happen,” says Valentine. All this is in marked contrast to where the genre was seen to be heading a decade ago when, upon Yves St Laurent’s retirement, none other than Pierre Bergé, his business partner and industry mogul, declared the craft to be all but dead. What a difference a few years makes. Nowadays, there are even some among this contingent of British believers who show in Paris as part of the official twice-yearly couture week, invited by the French industry’s governing body, which means they must comply with strict rules on quality and how garments are made. Even the British Fashion Council, so far identified with highly © EMILIA WICKSTEAD 82 DEPARTURES-INTERNATIONAL.COM
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: © ANNA VALENTINE, © ALEXANDER MCQUEEN, RICHARD BORD/GETTY IMAGES (2) From far left: Emilia Wickstead in her workroom; a full-skirted, pink silk evening gown from Wickstead’s autumn 2014 madeto-measure collection; Anna Valentine’s design for a beaded caped coat and skirt for her new line; couture on the catwalk – a recent made- to–order design in embroidered and feathered silk tulle by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen creative ready-to-wear, is planning a retrospective show of Oakwell’s work to wrap up London Fashion Weekend, which will have a strong red carpet slant. In Oakwell’s darkly draped salon, which can go from window display to entirely curtained off when an important client and their entourage arrives, the fitters and “petite mains” working with quick, dextrous hands create a buzz unique to this exalted level of fashion, which underlines how irresistible the experience is for those who can afford it. The techniques used are steeped in tradition – modern touches may speed up the process but most of the work is done by hand. Like the seamstresses, clients must learn to be patient: each new one has a block made to her shape before a pin is lifted, and the first outfit may take five fittings and five months, according to Valentine, though two or three is normal for regular clients. Wickstead reckons “40 working days”, or eight weeks, is average for her, and that is speedy; for McQueen it’s three to five months for a complex catwalk special altered to the client’s wishes, or up to six months for a unique creation by house designer Sarah Burton, such as the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress. Such a time lapse takes couture way beyond seasonal fashion. The client can command a timeless fantasy that will be hers alone – and London’s new couturiers create them just as convincingly as any of their feted European rivals. ♦ From top: white silk trousers and handembroidered tulle blouse from Ralph and Russo’s autumn 2014 collection shown in Paris; oneshouldered red silk gown from the same collection, its complex ruffled peplum balanced by a floating caped back YOUTHFUL BLOOM Established six years ago by fresh-faced Australian duo Tamara Ralph and Michael Russo (she’s the creative, he’s the money man), Ralph and Russo shows, uniquely for a London-based house, on the official Paris couture calendar. With A-list clients from Beyoncé to Angelina Jolie, commissions including complete private collections and gowns decorated with Cartier jewels, and up to 70 craftspeople in London and a further Paris atelier, they have just attracted private investment reported to be worth nine figures and moved to vast Knightsbridge premises. “We show our clients that anything is possible and to do so we help keep alive these wonderful crafts,” says Russo. Theirs is a model to which other London couturiers might aspire. ralphandrusso.com DEPARTURES-INTERNATIONAL.COM 83
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BLACKBOOK WHERE TO GO NEXT TRAVEL W
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Imagine room enough to work, rest a
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BLACKBOOK DISPATCH The pool at Taş
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Page 40: A chef working with fresh ingredien
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Page 56 and 57: COMBINING CRAFTSMANSHIP, DETAIL AND
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Page 60 and 61: Living room RAISING THE BAR 1 MANHA
Page 62 and 63: HIDDEN SECRETS MAGNUS FINLAYSON’s
Page 64 and 65: HOME & DESIGN Dining WALK THE LINE
Page 66 and 67: REFLECTED GLORY Launched at Milan
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Page 70 and 71: GIAMBATTISTA VALLI cotton and wool
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Page 80 and 81: From left: Nicholas Oakwell’s fab
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