Pinky Laing, Electroluminescent Jacket Designer

Who are you Pinky?

I am half English and half Bajan and grew up in England, in the countryside.

As a child I always wanted to organize everything and loved making things. I built doll’s houses, tree houses, made clothes…and everything had to be tidy!

I quit university (to my father’s horror) after 9 very long days and moved to London. I had big plans to conquer the world back then! In my 20s I worked in events planning and interior design. Then I lived and worked in New York for 2 years organising events for a large venue. When I came back to the UK in 2002 I worked for a PR company before setting up my own events company called Pink Tash Events. My great friend Tash and I had great fun throwing all sorts of events for all sorts of people. One of our more memorable events was the BBC Christmas party—sadly he made one too many jokes about the boss, but it all turned out well luckily!

© Marco Walker

Last year you launched a customized military jacket collection, how did you come up with the idea?

My father was an officer and I always loved his uniforms. I would often scour vintage shops looking for amazing old, but in good condition, jackets and uniforms. Then I would re-line and customize them. I started sewing flashing wire on jackets after my first visit to Burning Man, where EVERYTHING and everyone was ‘lit up’! I am obsessed with light installations and lighting. I decided to design my own jackets for the first time last year, as didn’t have the time to keep searching through vintage shops up and down the country. This line is the perfect creative outlet for me, as it combines my love for design, for fabrics and lights, and for making costumes.

Tell us a bit more about your creation process…

An East London factory makes my jackets, my fabrics come from a supplier in Lancashire, and my braiding and buttons all are over 50 years old and come from an old warehouse off Bethnal Green Road that specializes in haberdashery. They have a finite amount of braiding, so once that it all runs out I will have to find some more from somewhere else!

You also create bespoke pieces, how to get one of these and how long does it take to create?

To have a bespoke jacket made, you can either come to my studio or order online by contacting me. Each jacket takes approximately 3 weeks to make on order.

If you had to design a line for a famous brand or designer, which one or whom would you like it to be?

I would love to work with Nicolas Ghesquière at Balanciaga –he is amazing!

Which celebrities would you be honoured to see wear your creations?

My dream has always been to have Scissors Sisters wear my jackets on stage and I would love to make a special version for Florence Welsh (of Florence and the Machine) with white lighting all over it. 

You are based in London: what is your favourite place in the city?

As I have two mini Dachshunds I spend a lot of time in Hyde Park! I also love being outside so I guess Hyde Park is my definite favourite place.

A favourite restaurant?  

My favourite restaurant has to be my own little pop-up place called Maison Du Chien in the attic of Bumpkin in Notting Hill—you can have dinner followed by cabaret and then dancing, every winter for 3 nights a week.

A favourite bar / club?

The bar at Maison Du Chien—because I actually physically built it, covered it in fabric and painted it! Also the Fumoir Bar at Claridge’s. 

A favourite shop?  

I collect butterflies so I love antique shops with preserved butterflies like Les Couilles Du Chien on Goldborne Road, as well as the De Gournay wallpaper shop on the Kings Road. For food shopping I always try to support local farmers markets, but sometimes I can’t help nipping into Tesco metro! 

Any secret place?

I am involved in the creation of a brand new secret place in St James’s…I can’t tell you what exactly yet! Trust me, it’s going to be epic.

If you could live anywhere else, where would it be?

Argentina.

Why?

I love las pampas, galloping on wild horses, good weather and hombres!

What’s next? Any project?

I am working on a design project, a new secret place and new pieces for my collection—trousers and tailcoats.

http://www.pinkylaing.com

Aurelia Stouls, Designer of STOULS

Who are you Aurélia?

I am from the Left Bank in Paris, from a family with a good sense of style who gave me a taste for aesthetics and an understanding of ​​the beautiful and the casual. I studied at a couple fashion schools and that led me to working for 15 years in shoe design for companies such as Carel, Kélian and Heschung.

You launched Stouls in the summer of 2004; its concept is quite unique. How did you decide to design a line of washable leather clothes? 

I wanted to create a capsule collection of T-shirts similar to the Petit Bateau ones, only in leather. That idea led me to the ‘machine-washable’ concept—a good way to avoid rushing to the dry-cleaner every time you wear leather!

The brand evolved thereafter, season after season: I wanted people to wear leather like cashmere and live in it like in jeans, to consider leather like a second skin, an extension of oneself whatever one’s movements. I wanted to create garments allowing mobility and dynamism, that were both casual and extremely chic.

Your website features 16 ‘Stouls Women’ wearing your Fall/Winter collection. Tell us about them, who are they? What do they represent?

They are friends: women who feel beautiful, confident and glamorous wearing my creations. They are from different generations and have different styles. There is an artist, a rider, a curator, an art director, an art student, a journalist, a designer, a muse, a jewellery designer, a mother, a wife…all beautiful women. What they have in common: each one of them is feminine, unique, beautiful and friendly.

Do you think leather could become the ‘new’ jersey, ideal for a casual-chic look?

Absolutely! Leather has become in the recent seasons both a must-have and a basic. I think it is more than a fashion trend. How it is worn has evolved with technology and the various treatments of leather.

What is your definition of elegance?

Ah-ah, that’s quite a topic!

Elegance is something innate—one can’t just learn it. When it comes to clothes, always best to choose what we feel good and comfortable in. This applies to a sexy skirt, baggy jeans, a silk blouse…it all depends on our mood—and mood swings!

For me real bad taste is when the clothes don’t match the mood. Elegance is also the confidence one has in one’s clothes.

If you had to design a line for a famous brand, which one would you like it to be?

Hermes or Bottega Venetta. A brand related to leather, of course!

Which celebrities would you be honoured to see wear your creations?

Julianne Moore, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin… Inès de la Fressange already wears Stouls! Only elegant women if possible…I find the ‘it girls’ phenomenon annoying, I prefer real women.

You are based in Paris: what is your favourite place in the city?

It really depends on what time of day it is. It is either my bed or the Musée d’Orsay (I really like the XIX century); I also like having a drink on the terrace at La Palette and a stroll on the Avenue de l’Observatoire.

A favorite restaurant?

Currently, Racines (Passage du Panorama): very small, organic and delicious. Also Kunitoraya (rue Villedo), a sophisticated Japanese in a former bistro. 

A favorite bar / club?

The Silencio, a new beautiful place created by David Lynch. Go quickly before it’s too fashionable!

A shop favorite?

My ‘madeleine de Proust’, a childhood place, is Le Bon Marché. There you can find marshmallows of all colours and Michel Vivien shoes; olive oil and Martin Margiela clothes; books, men’s socks and Korres products—all of that in a ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ atmosphere.

Each purchase feels like a pure luxury, even if it is only an eraser! 

Any secret place?

Secret!

If you could live anywhere else, where would it be?

In my dreams of great idleness, I would live on a Greek island wearing Rondini  flip-flops and pareos. Otherwise in Beirut (the ‘New York’ of the Middle East) where creativity is free from the constraints of Franco-French mentality. And the food there is so good…

Why?

I love the atmosphere of Mediterranean countries unconditionally. There’s nothing better!

What’s next?

No idleness…

Any project?

I plan to open a Stouls shop in Paris, to find an assistant so I can breathe a little, and to go draw my next collection in Jaipur. Wishful thinking!

Check out Aurelia’s website http://www.stouls.net 

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