Laura Theiss
Sunday 19th September – We first saw Laura Theiss at Alternative Fashion Week back in April. At London Fashion Week, she was exhibiting at the On|Off exhibition.
Laura was born and grew up in Lithuania. “I’ve been knitting since I was five years old. I studied business and that helps a lot in fashion. Then I studied Fashion Design at St Martins. I graduated in 2009.”
We asked her how this, her second collection differed from the one she showed at AFW. “This collection is a bit more sellable. I still try to keep my signature ethnic style but this time, I wanted to be more futuristic so I’ve used metallic, shiny elements. My inspiration comes from Chinese legends about aliens so it’s a combination of ethnic and futuristic.
“We designers, we’re like journalists – we take a story, we research and translate it to our collection so it’s like the clothes are telling the story. Crocheted ribbons and tassels but metallic, 80% cotton and the rest is metallic. Most of it is hand-knit, with only the finer pieces are factory-made to my patterns.”
We asked what the reaction has been to the new collection. “Surprisingly amazing. As a designer, you never know, you get paranoid shortly before the show about what people are going to say, what the press are going to say but I’m really happy. There’s a been a really good reaction. People like to see traditional knitwear made in new ways.”
Laura’s collection is targeted at 18-25 year old girls and is priced in the £300-700 range. It’s currently sold at Beyond the Valley in London and Debut in New York, and you can see the full collection at lauratheiss.com
