So 2013 came to a slow and painful end...queue 2014...Oh wait! We’re halfway through January already!

In the middle of a heat wave and I've kicked of winter production. I get light headed every time I have to try on a sample to make sure the fit is right or to check if the length needs adjusting. This is always the tricky part; staying ahead of the consumers’ demand means I need to think at least three months ahead. That means shopping for boiled wool and heavy weight knits in the middle of summer, convincing your wholesale clients to, just quickly, slip on this long sleeve hooded dress. It takes some getting used to, but I guess its part of the job.

This week I also had to book my time slot at SA Fashion Week (SAFW) for the spring-summer 2014-15 collection. I personally love winter and find designing summer collections arduous. It’s weird; most SA designers tend to prefer summer and only do a minimal winter collection. Summer tends to be a more commercial season and as great as that is in terms of being able to pay rent on time, it makes designing for a fashion show harder.

As the owner-manager-designer-financial-and-HR-departments of my own business I tend towards trying to streamline all processes as much as possible. In the design process this translates to designing one collection per season that I can show at SAFW and, six months later, send to my retail outlets. Most large fashion houses have the resources to present a fantastical fashion show, then has a team of designer translating it into a commercially viable collection. As much as I wish I could, I simply can’t operate like that.

I started designing my summer collection last week; merging the most successful elements from this summer into fresh silhouettes. I've approached it from the same angle that I usually reserve for my winter collections; adding textured knits and layered detailing. So far it looks like my least summery collection, yet I’m more enthusiastic about it than I've ever been for a summer collection. I feel like designing and experimenting, playing with new techniques and generally having fun...strange how it shows in my work when I’m passionate or when I've lost the love...oh well! Here’s to creating from a happy place.

May 2014 rock your socks off  xx 

I would like to explore the similarities between fairy tales and what I do. I’ve been labeled a fashion designer even though I try and stay far, far away from “fashion”. I am a creator of clothing. I studied with freaks and poppies and worked as a minimum wage retail slave. The start of my happily ever after began when I was mentored by an amazing creative with a strong academic interest. She nurtured my love for sculpting and diverted it from clay to pattern making.

While working in a factory that produced high end, ready to wear clothing, I started my own journey. With a bottle of red we christened it SIES!isabelle. Initially it was slow going; trying to find a path leading deeper into the woods, and I passed the “don’t quit your day job” marker a good couple of times.

After four years of skirting the perimeter I dove in and launched my collection at SA fashion week, a year later I quit my day job and I haven’t looked back once. It’s been a rollercoaster ride ranging from huge orders to begging for breadcrumbs.

Currently I supply over 30 stores nationwide and internationally (if you count Namibia), own a small studio/factory and produce around 120 units of clothing each week. I employ 5 fulltime staff members and provide part time work for another 10. SIES!isabelle is a regular on the SA fashion week circuit and is starting to get noticed by the glossy media and general public.

At the moment I’m busy with the dregs of winter; sales and markdowns. I’m launching my summer collection next week. And I’ve started designing for Winter 2014; which brings me to the original topic; exploring the similarities between how I design and fairytales.

My inspiration became real when I found this quote by Angela Carter. “Ours is a highly individualized culture, with great faith in the work of art as a unique one-off, and the artist as an original, a godlike and inspired creator of unique one-offs. But fairy tales are not like that, nor are their makers.”

The basic concept that I found appealing, other than wishing to create clothing that is magic and fantastical, is that I’m not creating “unique one-offs”. Everything in wearable fashion has been done at some point. What fashion designers essentially do is tell the story in a new way. As Roger Zelanzy said:

“Editors believe they are buying the stories, but they are not. They are buying the way the story is told”