March 29, 2024

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How lockdown unleashed a flourishing online marketplace for vibrant clothes



a person standing posing for the camera: Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer


© Furnished by The Guardian
Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer

‘Our patterns are incredibly uplifting’



a person wearing a dress: ‘If I wear a grey jumper I just feel flat. I find myself so attracted to colour’: Marielle Wyse of Wyse London.


© Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer
‘If I use a grey jumper I just really feel flat. I locate myself so captivated to colour’: Marielle Wyse of Wyse London.

Marielle Wyse of Wyse London

Multicoloured striped tank tops, pink scalloped dungarees, rainbow wrist warmers… If vibrant and daring color is what you’re seeking for, Marielle Wyse is your girl and Wyse London your model.

A former Tv producer and a mom of two, she established Wyse in 2014 with just five knitted jumpers to market. Now she has a extensive assortment of all set-to-use outfits and a ream of famed and trendy followers – you may have noticed Zoë Ball wearing one of her dazzling knits on the BBC present It Requires Two. “I grew bit by bit and extremely leanly,” Marielle states. “I didn’t expend more than what was essential. And I drove my very poor relatives mad due to the fact I did everything at property. I had persons coming to do the job in our home each individual day.”

Her adore of colour has only improved as she’s acquired older. “My father used to have on a large amount of color and I used to think, why aren’t you in navy or grey? But now I fully grasp. If I use a grey jumper I just feel flat. I really don’t know if it’s an age issue, but I discover myself so captivated to colour. Our stripy cardigans are very lifting parts because lifetime is really challenging suitable now.”

All through the course of this calendar year, which has seen so lots of trend brands struggle and fall short, Marielle has totally transformed her business technique. As wholesalers cancelled orders, she took to Instagram Reside to chat to followers and clients directly about her style approach. “I would pretty much keep anything up and see if persons preferred it,” she suggests. “If people today claimed, ‘We like it,’ we’d get them to pre-purchase and we’d make it. It is practically like a group style and design venture. They say they want the sleeves to search a selected way and that’s what we do. It’s manufactured me significantly superior at my position mainly because they’ve instructed me the bits they’re not happy with.”

Whilst she readily admits to some “clangers”, these kinds of as Wyse’s party year sequins, which folks have not seriously absent in for this calendar year, she’s also savored some large hits, which includes her velvet attire and scalloped dungarees. “I had famous folks asking me for them, to have on on Television,” she states. “But they ended up all bought out!”

wyselondon.co.british isles @wyselondon

“I want colours to match everyone’

Rene Macdonald of Lisou London



a person standing in front of a building: ‘People react to you differently when you wear colour’: Rene Macdonald of Lisou London. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer


© Presented by The Guardian
‘People react to you in another way when you don colour’: Rene Macdonald of Lisou London. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer

“There’s this idea that if you wear color on a Monday, you are extra effective in your function than if you have on black,” states Rene Macdonald, the founder and designer behind Lisou London. “People evidently react to you in another way when you have on colour.”

That is great news for the prospects of Lisou, whose skirts, shirting, tailoring and dresses arrive vivid, printed and shiny, and selected to provoke a optimistic reaction.

Rene, a former educational and stylist (“The major and the ta-daa”, as she puts it), established the model in 2018 with a silk shirt – the Betty, however a best seller – that introduced to London some of the boldness of her Tanzanian heritage. “I know my adore of colour arrives from Africa,” she suggests. “There is literally no street there in which everyone is putting on beige! So I commit a whole lot of time managing about putting Pantone colours from diverse skin tones – I want the colors to match absolutely everyone. Not all people looks like me and I’m not building clothes only for black skin tones. They’re for absolutely everyone.” Which include Gwyneth Paltrow and Helen Mirren, who are each customers.

At the begin of the pandemic, Rene thought her dream “had disappeared”. But two weeks into lockdown, a thing changed. “It was quite surreal. I think men and women had been bored. We realised everybody was on their phones and the Instagram followers started racking up.” In response, she started out to do Instagram Tv, talking specifically to her followers, displaying how to style the dresses, interviewing other girls and talking about the ethos of the model. To date, she’s performed 35 broadcasts. “In the fourth just one I fell flat on my facial area. I hadn’t place on my 5in heels correctly and I fell down the stairs. I experienced to design and style it out. It’s likely the only matter I have in widespread with Naomi Campbell,” she laughs. “But I imagine men and women like that I’m a regular man or woman.”

Lisou has not long ago supported the charity Just one Tree Planted and donated to the Royal University of Nursing Basis. “My moms and dads both of those labored for the UN and we lived in areas in which there had been wars and coups,” states Renee. “They gave me a sense of social duty. Trend can be a force for transform and for superior. My system is modest, but I definitely consider about how I use it.”

lisou.co.united kingdom @lisoulondon

‘In lockdown our revenue tripled’

Gallery: The Great Housekeeping workforce share their winter season wish lists (Good Housekeeping British isles)

Sinead Blaney sitting on a table: With Christmas just around the corner, the Good Housekeeping team share the products they are investing in this festive season. Their winter wish lists are full of a little bit of everything, including homeware, crafts, fashion, beauty and books, and are sure to give you some ideas for Christmas gifting or a treat for yourself!From brands like Marks & Spencer, The White Company, Nordic Nest and Lush, here are the products the Good Housekeeping team are buying right now.

Louise Markey of LF Markey



a woman sitting on a bed: ‘When people began shopping for casualwear we sold all the extra stock on our website’: Louise Markey of LF Markey. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer


© Supplied by The Guardian
‘When people today began purchasing for casualwear we bought all the additional inventory on our website’: Louise Markey of LF Markey. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer

Lilac joggers and primary-coloured appliquéed boiler suits by LF Markey have brightened up the days of several of the brand’s consumers this year, but designer and founder Louise Markey has been deep into color for a extensive time. Though accomplishing an MA in style at Central Saint Martins, the mom-of-three made vibrant items primarily based on historic costume, although she was sporting the vintage workwear she had started out amassing. “It took me a when to fuse what I was sporting every single working day with what I was developing for uni,” she says. “It achieved in the center with LF Markey, this extremely geometric just take on bright colors.”

Started in 2013, the brand provides a vibrant dose of utility chic to all those bored of blue denim and khaki. “I imagine it may possibly be just due to the fact I’m Australian. Colour is very satisfactory to have on there,” claims Louise, of her penchant for brights. “But this calendar year colour has been shifting even much better than normal.”

With so numerous wholesalers cancelling trend orders this spring, Louise felt lucky that she presently experienced her on the net business in form. “We had all this inventory just sitting down in the warehouse since the suppliers didn’t want it,” she suggests. “It was frightening. But in fact when lockdown started out men and women commenced searching for casualwear and we marketed all the further stock on our site.”

When photoshoots were not able to come about, the group discovered themselves with a further issue – no photographs of their summer time collection to set on the web site or on Instagram. Louise credits her advertising and marketing supervisor with a stroke of genius there. “She mentioned we ought to shoot the clothing on ourselves. So we did it in our residences and our back yards and on the avenue. I was in them, too, and I’d just given birth to my 3rd little one, so I bought to do a moreover-dimension shoot on myself.”

The photographs had been so perfectly gained that the brand name savored an instantaneous uplift. “I assume the figures tripled,” says Louise. “It was extraordinary. Individuals appeared to like being launched to the team and viewing the persons guiding the brand name.”

Louise, who also owns one more, extra romantic manufacturer identified as Meadows, whole of very dresses, is now concentrating on the web site, wherever profits are 3 occasions the sizing they have been at the get started of the 12 months. She has boosted her staff by 25%, doubling the dimension of the consumer company team. “What I’ve discovered this 12 months is that you seriously want to be talking to your prospects all the time.”

lfmarkey.com @lfmarkey

‘I asked myself: “Is this authentic?”’

Yvonne Telford of Kemi Telford



‘In Nigeria, if you wear black, they think someone has died. I’ve always loved colour and print, but I couldn’t wear them here because it wasn’t seen as chic’: Yvonne Telford of Kemi Telford. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer


© Offered by The Guardian
‘In Nigeria, if you dress in black, they feel somebody has died. I have normally cherished color and print, but I couldn’t use them below simply because it wasn’t viewed as chic’: Yvonne Telford of Kemi Telford. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer

When Yvonne Telford initial moved to the Uk from Nigeria in 1996, she set absent her brightly coloured apparel. “In Nigeria, if you have on black, they assume an individual has died,” she states with a laugh. “I’ve usually cherished colour and print, but I could not wear them here because it was not viewed as stylish.”

Yvonne, who experienced been doing the job as a credit rating possibility analyst, started embracing color once more when she turned 40. “I considered, ‘It’s time for me to begin residing my lifestyle.’ Color is like liberty for me. It helps make me delighted and it is who I am.”

Nevertheless it was to take some time in advance of that appreciate of daring color turned the basis of her possess effective outfits manufacturer, Kemi Telford. Immediately after quitting her corporate task and even though increasing her two daughters, Yvonne started out a site about motherhood. Two a long time later she invested £50 in tote baggage that she experienced printed with empowering slogans. Pouches, T-shirts and sweatshirts adopted. But one thing commenced to irritate her. “When I wore my T-shirts women of all ages would question me about my skirts. Why weren’t they inquiring about the T-shirts? In the shower a single day, it quickly clicked: they like my skirts, they like my dresses, do a little something about it!”

What she did was to produce a flourishing apparel business enterprise with a subsequent of supportive girls. Her brilliant printed skirts and dresses in African wax fabric, are modelled on her web site and Instagram account by Yvonne herself, with pictures taken by her household. “I’m not a trend designer,” she claims. “I’m a person who loves gorgeous print and comfortable clothes, and has a story to inform. Individuals are getting the apparel mainly because of the tales we share.”

This was underlined all through the pandemic when her shoppers commenced chatting extra about Kemi Telford. Her Instagram followers rose and revenue soared. “We utilized to have a turnover of about £70,000, but it improved 100%. It got to a point wherever I was waking up in a panic and inquiring my spouse, ‘Is this actual?” A post about how she couldn’t bring herself to terminate orders from her suppliers in locations like Nigeria and India also triggered a stir. “I explained I didn’t want to take a food off anybody’s table. I consider that connected with customers for the reason that gross sales took off,” she states. “People care about where by the apparel come from, but they care more about how you are dealing with the men and women making the apparel. I often say, when I get how I deal with people correct, I get the garments correct.”

kemitelford.com @kemitelford

‘It’s long gone off like a rocket’

Jo Hooper of NRBY



a woman sitting on a couch: ‘The lovely jewel colours make you feel better when you put them on’: Jo Hooper of NRBY. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer


© Offered by The Guardian
‘The wonderful jewel colours make you experience much better when you put them on’: Jo Hooper of NRBY. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer

“Our motto is: We’re below to cheer,” says Jo Hooper, founder of NRBY. “We say it in the office all the time. What are we right here for? We’re below to cheer.”

Significantly less than two years ago, Hooper, a previous womenswear director at John Lewis and Debenhams, took her knowledge in the retail business and her awareness of how she and other gals were functioning from property, to get started NRBY, her individual model of colourful and comfy garments to wear in the house – and nearby. Motivated by the thought of Japanese one particular-mile dress in, the variety of goods she came up with were being straightforward joggers, roomy boiler suits, linen and silk shirts and colourful, slouchy cashmere and alpaca knits. She did not realise it at the time, but her idea set her in the suitable position to weather conditions a international pandemic in which men and women were being confined to the dwelling.

“When the very first lockdown happened we did not have any ambitions other than to still be close to when it was all around,” she says. “But our turnover quadrupled. It was the blend of becoming in a position to explain to our tale by means of factors like Instagram and getting the right kind of merchandise.” 5 hundred pairs of their Cameron jersey dungarees with adjustable straps bought in two days. “One customer wrote and said I bought a pair but my daughter’s stolen them so I’m purchasing one more pair,” she suggests. “That’s the sort of story we really like.”

As wintertime has taken keep, it has been the velvet shirts, blazers and boiler suits in saturated shades of blues, pinks and purple that, as Jo places it, “have absent off like a rocket”.

“We ended up involved that if no one was likely any place they would not be certain about velvet, but that strategy of sitting down on your couch wearing a thing awesome and remaining comfy has been well-known,” she states. “The pretty jewel colors just make you experience far better when you place them on.”

She’s well aware of the ability of color in vogue. “When I was at John Lewis I employed to say you have received 7 seconds to grab someone’s interest as they walk earlier your array,” she states. “But on Instagram you have got much less than .3 seconds or some thing! How do you stop somebody in their tracks? I consider that’s why colour has turn out to be so significant around the final 5 years. Persons maintain speaking about cream and camel and neutrals, but it’s colour that stops you in your tracks.”

nrbyclothing.com @nrbyclothing