After last week’s shock announcement that Marc by Marc Jacobs would be merging with the brand’s primary line, we were all left wondering what exactly that meant for its masterminds, Katie Hillier and Luella Bartley. Today, those questions were answered, as fashion’s most exciting double act announced the launch of their own label. The brand – titled Hillier Bartley – will be on shelves come August.
“Hillier Bartley is a very personal project which Katie and I have been working on for years,” said Bartley in a statement, describing it as “a culmination of everything I have learnt as a designer and a woman.” With a friendship spanning almost 15 years (they first met in a pub with Katie Grand), the duo promise to inject their ready-to-wear line with traditional British fashion staples – like cloth inherited from Savile Row – but subvert them with a subcultural twist. According to them, the collection’s heroine “lies somewhere between Ian McCulloch and Katharine Hepburn. It’s about a woman our age, indie by heart, rakish and irreverent by nature, who is maturing into refinement and naturalness.”
While at MBMJ, the designers took their readings from anime, raves and biker girls. Although the women they’re designing for seems to have grown up a little, the girl power spirit that coursed through the veins of each Marc collection will surely remain. “We didn’t go into it to try and put out some sort of feminist manifesto. It’s just in us,” explained Bartley to Dazed last year. “Now we are finally putting all our experience into making something that’s a reflection of us, of what we want to wear. I’m really proud of what we’ve made – the craftsmanship, attention to detail and design.”
See their last Marc by Marc Jacobs collection below:
