We sat down with our Head of Design, Amy Fisher, to discuss all things New Era, our in-house design process and her journey as a designer.
New Era
How would you define the New Era collection?
New Era is aimed at the modern women, one who’s constantly on the move and looking for versatile pieces that can take them from the desk during the day, to afterhours drinks. The collection features lots of mix and match pieces in legacy prints and fabrics for this very reason. We want to make our customer feel empowered when wearing New Era, she can make a statement and play with accessorising to feel her best.
Where did you draw your inspiration from when creating New Era?
Well, when we began ideating the collection, we were inspired to blend legacy styles with trends. We noticed cream was trending as a colour that exudes luxury, and as a team, we loved pinstripe as a heritage print, so we focused on melding those elements together. We also knew we wanted to feature a vintage and dark feminine palette, and we built the mood around that. We were inspired by strong women who play with power in fashion like Rosie Huntington Whiteley.
“We’re passionate about providing the Club L girl with pieces that empower her and make her feel like she can experiment with her style. Maybe that includes gold hardware or androgynous styling. It’s up to the wearer.”
How did wearability and comfort influence your design decisions?
Personally, I’m always on the lookout for clothes that fuse style and comfort; I think that’s a marker of a good piece. So, I bring that same philosophy to my design process. It starts from the beginning; from the fabric we choose. We selected the most premium fabrics that had a nice hand-feel, as the tailored pieces are quite minimal in style, we wanted the fabric to sing. We also took things a step further, by bonding the fabric to make it thicker and more structured to create more dramatic and angular silhouettes, particularly on our suiting pieces.
How have you seen women’s fashion change in recent years?
Obviously, fashion is constantly evolving, and as a brand we’ve always got our Club L girl top of mind. We know she changes, grows up and adapts to the economy and state of the world, so we work to match her where she is. It's also exciting that fashion is becoming less fractioned, with different consumer groups taking similar staple styles and making them their own. We’ve responded to this by expanding our product range to service different types of customers and their style.
“As an aspiring designer it’s important to find the sweet spot between taking the metaphorical pen your design house gives you and then making the handwriting your own. You need to blend their style with yours to create unique pieces.”
New Era is about empowerment. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to aspiring designers?
Don’t be afraid about not getting your dream job right away. You learn so much more from a job you didn’t have your sights set on at first. Jobs that don’t seem to be the right fit at first can actually teach you styles and techniques to use in the future to shape your individual style. For example, if you want to be a dress maker but you get offered a job as a junior garment technician at a uniform company, take it. You’ll learn tailoring and technical skills that will be invaluable and give you a unique spin on your future dress designs.
