Louisa Parris
Launching her own line was pretty much Louisa Parris’s destiny. “My mom [a fashion illustrator] used to say, ‘When you graduate college, the first thing you’ll want to do is start your label,’” she recounts. “First, I studied at Kingston, but I struggled quite a lot with the course. We would spend a semester just doing a tailored jacket, and, at that time, I wanted to be freer and do crazier things. So I switched to Central Saint Martins. Instead of doing straight womenswear, I did fashion design with marketing—that entailed a year working in the industry, which I thought was brilliant. I worked for costume designers, did stuff in theatre and film, and worked at Mulberry and Donna Karan for three months—it was amazing.” Oh, and: She won the school’s coveted womenswear collection award.
Soon after, the born-and-bred Londonite made a big move: In 2005, she packed her bags for San Francisco with her boyfriend, who she married a
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On Friday, 11 up-and-coming designers presented their spring collections at Gen Art’s (16th annual!) Fresh Faces show. And guess what? Three of those designers (Ace & Jig, Ann Yee, and Collina Strada) have already made appearances on our site, and you’ll see a few others around here very soon. So, you know, humblebrag minus the humble part. Here, three of our fave looks, from top to bottom:
1) Ace & Jig doing some really kick-ass pattern mixing. Also: that sock-oxford combo…swoon.
2) Check out the hemline on those blue Baron Wells pants: It reveals the perfect amount of ankle.
3) Hey! Ann Yee is doing knits for the first time next season! And we’re psyched because, judging by her own wardrobe, she’s some sort of sweater master.
