From the 49th floor of the Upper House Hotel in Admiralty, the clear blue skies reveal the city\u2019s skyline \u2013 but it\u2019s practically lost on Matthew Williamson.<\/p>\n
The British fashion designer seems a little dazed, but then he\u2019s been a busy man. Williamson has only just finished his autumn-winter 2014 collection which debuted at London Fashion Week. He then flew to Hong Kong, where he held a retrospective show as part of the British Government\u2019s Great Week. On top of all that, this is his umpteenth interview of the day fielding questions about his journey from a schoolboy obsessed with the patterns of the 1970s to the toast of women\u2019s fashion.<\/p>\n
Williamson with British Consul General Caroline Wilson and models at his retrospective show for the British Council\u2019s Great Week Hong Kong.His mother, an optician\u2019s receptionist known for her snazzy sense of style, was a big influence on how things turned out. Williamson\u2019s open-minded parents accepted his artistic ambitions and sent him from their quiet Manchester home to that essential institute of high fashion, Central Saint Martins in London.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it was ever a question or a doubt that I didn\u2019t want to do it,\u201d Williamson says of his beginnings in fashion. \u201cI just had an early instinct when I was a young boy. It was a field that I was fascinated with and I had a natural affinity with it, and it was quite easy to navigate my way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The environment was as cutthroat as most designers make out, he says, but his upbringing allowed him to stand out from the intense crowd \u2013 particularly by embracing his strange but chic interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was born in the \u201970s, and that era is where I\u2019m drawn to for some reason,\u201d says Williamson. \u201cThat loose notion of hedonism, the lifestyle, the design, that\u2019s my constant source. It\u2019s the core of my brand, and you need a DNA and a foundation. That\u2019s what draws me back to that era. My eye is all about sense of luxury and a bohemian spirit. Those are closely linked to the \u201970s.\u201d<\/p>\n
That particular aesthetic style is sometimes known as \u201cboho-chic\u201d, a blend of hippie patterns, flowing dresses, Indian-inspired embroidery and leggings that was particularly popular in the early 2000s. Some say Williamson invented it, others that he merely propagated it through model-muses Kate Moss and, more famously, Sienna Miller. But the one thing that is for certain is that it\u2019s appeared in every one his collections throughout his 16-year career, from his 1997 debut collection at London Fashion Week, all the way through to last month\u2019s autumn-winter line. It\u2019s the latter he wants to talk about because, while some fashion press recently had a field day with his \u201cboho-again\u201d current collection, he feels it\u2019s different to anything he\u2019s done before, studying a darker side to his aesthetic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last collection was again based on the \u201970s, but it explored that hedonistic, night-time sense of a woman,\u201d he says. \u201cWe started to imagine this woman that really didn\u2019t exist and what her wardrobe would be. We were inspired by an interior shot from a \u201970s magazine and used that as her home to dress her.\u201d<\/p>\n
The line was mostly met with acclaim, but any kind of repetition in the world of fashion comes with its naysayers. What they don\u2019t understand, Williamson says, is that fashion is a balancing act between commercial and creative, and those that tip too far either side eventually lose out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have the freedom to do what I want. There\u2019s no one poking me in the back saying I have to stick to a formula,\u201d he says. \u201cThere have been points in my career where I\u2019ve wanted to completely break free, but it wouldn\u2019t really make sense. I\u2019m not an artist, and there\u2019s a fine line between a commercial business wanting to keep its customer base and a sense of movement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williamson is well aware of the commercial side of his business and his brand, something that many a haughty designer can\u2019t claim.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s most obvious in his merciless attitude when dealing with attempts to branch out: a menswear collection that he regrettably had to kill after a couple of seasons and a leather handbag collection launched last year that he isn\u2019t sure where will go. However, he\u2019s had fruitful collaborations with luxury hotels and on fabrics and wallpapers for Osborne & Little.<\/p>\n
Last year also saw the relaunch of his website and e-commerce site. When asked which designers in the fashion world he admires the most, he\u2019s quick to answer. \u201cI respect every designer that has lasted for more than 10 years because it\u2019s tough, no matter how big or small their brand is,\u201d he says. \u201cBut if they have a brand and they produce clothes seasonally, then I respect that.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Williamson, the mere act of survival in the thoroughly ruthless fashion world is most impressive, and maybe that\u2019s part of the reason he looks a bit tired. Right now, he\u2019s supposedly on a break, as much as you can call a Hong Kong retrospective showcase a break. Sixteen of his most famous outfits were modelled, including the purple empress dress worn by Keira Knightley, the textured flower embroidered black gown worn by Gwyneth Paltrow and the jade stone peplum dress worn by the Duchess of Cambridge to a London film premiere.<\/p>\n
But in a couple of weeks\u2019 time he\u2019ll start thinking about his spring-summer 2015 line. \u201cAnd no doubt I\u2019ll be thinking about the \u201970s,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Down the road, there\u2019s nothing on his mind except pushing his brand forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grand ambition is to do more of what we do, and to do it better,\u201d says Williamson. \u201cI just try to keep my clothes as fresh as they can be for the price that they can be. I like to think that they are full of character and will enhance whoever chooses to wear them, even if it\u2019s just a tiny bit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From the 49th floor of the Upper House Hotel in Admiralty, the clear blue skies reveal the city\u2019s skyline \u2013 but it\u2019s practically lost on Matthew Williamson. The British fashion designer seems a little dazed, but then he\u2019s been a busy man. Williamson has only just finished his autumn-winter 2014 collection which debuted at London […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-profile"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vagal.lakhanitechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vagal.lakhanitechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vagal.lakhanitechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vagal.lakhanitechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vagal.lakhanitechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=695"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vagal.lakhanitechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":698,"href":"https:\/\/vagal.lakhanitechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695\/revisions\/698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vagal.lakhanitechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vagal.lakhanitechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vagal.lakhanitechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vagal.lakhanitechnology.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}