Only this time last week i was browsing the Luella website, thinking that the prices were slashed quite dramatically. Now, if your a well recognised British designer, with a well received S/S '10 then surely your prices shouldn't be that low?
This disgusting recession has killed off one of my favorite designers. Luella Bartley created dresses that were made for me: feminine, fun and fucking beautiful. Her designs have been seen on everyone from Lilly Allen to Kate Moss and had only just won the 'Designer of the Year' award at the British Fashion Councils Annual Award gala. And literally a few weeks ago, her amazing Spring/Summer '10 collection was shown at London Fashion Week with the likes of Anna Wintour closely watching front row. Famous for her sweet, sassy, preppy designs that had an English eccentric edge. Luella Bartley was the poster child for London cool, in the words of the Wintour. But since her investors have backed out, she cannot even fulfill orders for her latest collection.
Here are my favourite Luella designs:
So who was Luella Bartley?
Bartley studied at Central St Martins (aka my uni homegirl at London Uni of the Arts) where she finally decided to follow on the path of fashion journalism. She has written for the Evening Standard, Vogue, Dazed and Confused before she took up a drunken dare to create her first clothing line. 'Daddy i want a pony' was Luellas first collection which she debuted at Pulp bassist Steve Mackays flat. From then on she has risen to producing many London Fashion Week debuts, starting with 'Daddy, who were the Clash?' She once recalled: 'i think we just got a bit drunk one night and my friends were like, 'Just do it! Just make your own fashion label.' And i was like, 'All right then. Yeah!.'
I'm just hoping a knight in shinning armour can rescue this amazing designer out of the dark, lurking waters of the recession, pretty please?
