You might find yourself being extremely overwhelmed with the amount of "next best" designers in the industry that you should ABSOLUTELY be following according to Vogue. Even though big fashion publications could be an amazing source to find your upcoming favorite brand, you'll slowly start to realize that the names that are mentioned seem to always remain the same. I'll try to hook you up with the names that you -hopefully- don't know yet but probably start seeing everywhere in the future.
Samuel K
Are you feeling like rocking some fancy pants? You might request Samuel K to make one for you. Each of their products is hand made to order and made to fit true size. It's impossible not being the center of attention when you wear one of these pants. Calling all Leo's!
Seeing brands that understand the fact that each body is different and can't wear a "one size fits all" is super relieving. There are some brands that understand basic biology! We love to see it! Fun, eccentric and playful, Samuel K will surely take over our Instagram feed soon.
2. Christina Seewald
Christina is a Central Saint Martins grad creating one-of-a-kind knitwear. They are way more exciting than the ones your mom knits you I promise. No offense, without them we wouldn't have Harry Style's colorful knit cardigan. She creates her designs with sustainability in mind. Both socially and ecologically. “I try to be very sustainable but I’m not one of the brands trying to make a big thing out of it. It’s important that every designer nowadays cares about it. We should all take part. It should be a necessity,” she says and she isn't wrong. Using sustainable fabrics whenever you can shouldn't be something which is considered to be radical or game changing. It should become a necessity. She also makes smaller collections by piecing together all the different leftovers. Each piece has quality as a common aspect. She uses high quality yarns that will last you a long time and not get destroyed within the first few months.
When you think of a sexy design, you would immediately think about sheer fabrics, latex or leather. What Christina does is representing femininity and sexiness with knitwear which works so well. Her designs are never basic or boring as she portrays her craftsmanship within each piece.
3. Helena Manzano
Taking her main inspiration from scenic views and botanics, Helena Manzano invents a world of her own with each piece she creates. The 3D stripe designs that you have been seeing everywhere isn't Fashion Nova's creation, of course. It's Helena's.
Comfort seems to be the key element with her work which is unfortunately not something that you could say for a lot of brands. "You must suffer for fashion." is such an outdated way of seeing beauty and Helena proves that with her own brand. Each season exists for the upcoming one. Her design has a very subtle tone that remains the same but equally evolves in terms of creativity. It's almost as if she takes inspiration from four seasons where each of them has their own charm and beauty, ready to follow the next one, ready to grow.
4. Maroske Peech
Here comes my favorite brand. You might remember them from our "What Would Edie Sedgwick Wear In This Day and Time?" article where I re-imagined Edie going to a pilates class with Maroske Peech leggings on. A collaboration between Elisa Keeler and Jordan Conder Maroske Peech is fun, bold and very innovative. They are one of those brands where you actually feel a rush of "something" upon discovering them. It could be a sense of liberation, excitement or simply adoration. I felt all three.
They mix plenty of things: Fabrics and designs that are usually used in performance art with day-wear, playful energy with sexiness. The ultimate brand to shop from if you need a conversation starter piece. They are very good with how they portray their designs whether it'd be with ballet inspired photoshoots or making sure that each piece is worn by people with different styles. Oh how I wish to be able to afford their Pirate pants and run around the house trying to do my old dance tricks.
5. Emily Watson
Mixing and matching plays a big part in Melbourne based designers work. Her designs are collage-like where you can see inspirations that pour down on her from anything and everything. She re-contextualises traditional swimwear archetypes and techniques. Worn by Rico Nasty and Lil Miquela , Emily Watson already has a cult following.
I always found swimwear terribly boring and it was my least favorite thing to shop for, until I've seen Emily's work and how far one can go with it. She makes dresses, bikinis, tops and skirts that looks quite exciting and new. Despite being very young, Emily seems to have found her footing within the fashion industry with her innovative ways of showing us how swimwear and leisure wear can be used as a base for almost every piece.
6. garbage core
garbage core is a Milan based project from Giuditta Tanzi. She creates unique and custom-made pieces made from upcycled clothes. Upcycling might be one of the most original crafting methods ever and garbage core uses it so well to create unrepeatable designs. “I believe that upcycling makes the creation of the garments very expressive,” Tanzi says.
As art-piece-like her designs are, they are also wearable. When you wear something designed and upcycled by Giuditta, you'll be wearing something that only you will have which is very artisanal. People like her push the industry forward in terms of finding new ways of producing garments which is very important as it's innovation that evolves the industry.
7. Olivia Rowan
A new grad, Olivia Rowan is a Melbourne based designer that creates on request. As I was scrolling down her Instagram feed I immediately thought that Alexa Demie would rock one of her designs. Soon after I realized that she included Alexa as one of her inspirations already.
What was very fun to see was how her taste varied as you scrolled up her feed. It's evident that she knows the "savoir-faire" of tailoring garments and make classic pieces. However, she went out of her way to create something that was more her and way more bold. The colors, the brave designs and the community like aspect of her brand really makes me excited about what will come in the future.
8. SSCHAFER
SSCHAFER is another Melbourne based brand that I've recently discovered. They create their garments ethically and they pride themselves in being transparent with each process of the production. They sew each piece themselves in house which is quite difficult to do.
Their bottoms are the thing that got me hooked with SSCHAFER. Each of them is very detailed and unique. They don't shy away from holes, big pockets, metals or anything experimental that might help them. They use models from all sizes which is once again, something that we should be seeing more of. Even though they have a few pieces up online for sale, each piece looks like they were well thought of and well crafted.