When Fashion Stops Speaking to Women - L+S Atelier

My good friend, designer Daniel Learmont, and I have both worked in the fashion industry for more than 20 years. We have known each other for years, share many clients and, despite working in different areas of the industry, have found ourselves noticing the same thing. There is a woman who seems to have been somewhat forgotten by fashion.

She isn't necessarily interested in trends. She isn't dressing for Instagram. She knows herself, knows what she likes and probably has more confidence in her taste than she did at 25. And yet, strangely, she can find it harder than ever to find clothes she actually wants to wear.

I see this frequently through my styling work, particularly with women as they become older and more senior in their careers. They may be more accomplished, more experienced and more certain of who they are, but somehow their wardrobe isn't keeping pace.

Sometimes I hear versions of, "I just don't know where to shop anymore"

Or, "Everything feels too young or too boring" or sometimes it is simply, "I don't feel like myself".

Daniel sees it from the designer's side too. So much clothing has become trend-driven, mass-produced and designed with a very particular, often younger, customer in mind. Somewhere along the way, some of the soul seems to have disappeared.

Which led us to a question.

What about the woman who wants to be seen?

Not because she wants attention for attention's sake, but because she still wants to walk into a room feeling fabulous. She wants clothes with personality. She wants quality. She wants something a little unexpected. She wants to feel current without feeling as though she is dressing like her daughter. She also doesn't necessarily want to walk into a room wearing the same thing as everybody else.

That conversation eventually became L+S Atelier.

L+S is very much in its infancy. Daniel and I both have established businesses that keep us extremely busy, so we work on it when we can. It is a passion project rather than something we expect to make our millions from. But perhaps that is also what makes it so enjoyable. We can create slowly. We can make things simply because we think they are beautiful. And at the moment, we are starting with the blouse.

Because how good is a fabulous blouse?

There is something about a beautiful blouse that can completely change how you feel. Put it with a pair of trousers or jeans and suddenly you are dressed. It can be feminine without being overly pretty, powerful without looking corporate, and interesting without trying too hard.

Our pieces are made in very limited numbers using beautiful deadstock and offcut fabrics wherever possible. It helps minimise waste, but it also means there is an exclusivity to each piece. We aren't interested in producing hundreds of identical garments.

We want the woman wearing one to feel that she has found something special.

The response from some of our mutual clients has already been lovely, but creating L+S has made me think about something much bigger than clothing.

What does it mean when a woman starts to feel invisible?

There seems to be a strange contradiction that happens for many women. At precisely the point in life when they have accumulated experience, knowledge, confidence and authority, they can begin to feel less visible in the world around them.

I don't believe that what we wear determines our worth, and a blouse certainly isn't going to manufacture confidence or authority. However,  I do believe clothing can help us express something that is already there. It can say: this is me.

It can reconnect us with creativity and pleasure. It can remind us that getting dressed doesn't have to become purely functional just because we are busy, senior, responsible or no longer 25. Perhaps that is what Daniel and I are really playing with in the studio. Yes, we are making beautiful blouses, but we are also thinking about the woman wearing them. A woman who doesn't want to disappear quietly into a sea of sensible neutrals. A woman who still wants beauty, colour, craftsmanship and a little bit of magic in her wardrobe.

A woman who has absolutely no intention of becoming invisible.

L+S Atelier is still evolving, but if you are curious to see what Daniel and I are creating, I would love to introduce you to it. With style,

Caitlin