Inside Faustine Steinmetz's Avant-Garde London Studio
Faustine Steinmetz at her north London studio
The Parisian designer shows us around her studio in Seven Sisters, north London.
A polo shirt-inspired piece on a hand-loom in Faustine Steinmetz’s studio
The studio is home to the designer’s hand-looms, on which many of her fabrics are woven.
The loom in Faustine Steinmetz’s studio in action
Several pieces from the spring/summer 2015 collection, including distorted, reimagined polo shirts, were woven on these looms.
Designer Faustine Steinmetz in her studio
Steinmetz moved into this space a year ago, and lives on site.
A toile pinned on a dressmaker’s dummy in Faustine Steinmetz’s studio
In the run-up to London Fashion Week, Steinmetz and her assistants have been working late into the evenings.
The designer’s Pomeranian, Buzz
Buzz is happiest when sitting at Stienmetz’s desk.
Inside the Faustine Steinmetz studio
When Steinmetz first moved into the studio, it was an old wood factory that had become completely flooded.
Seamstress’s supplies
Steinmetz isn’t interested in creating ‘looks’, and this season has shown each piece individually, like an art exhibition.
Yarns and reading materials in the Faustine Steinmetz studio
The designer tries to make her work as eco-friendly as possible, and often uses recycled yarns.
Fabric for the spring summer 2016 Faustine Steinmetz collection
Steinmetz’s spring/summer 2016 collection is all about distorted, pulled and deconstructed garments.
An assistant uses the loom in the Faustine Stienmetz studio
A hand-woven item can take a week or longer to make.
Steinmetz’s team at work
The designer’s studio is a hive of activity.
Lily, a VIP at the Steinmetz studio
Lily also belongs to Steinmetz, but unlike Buzz, she’s not allowed on the desk.
The team works on the patterns The team works on the patterns for the SS 16 Faustine Steinmetz collection
Steinmetz’s new, factory-made designs are less expensive to produce – she hopes they will make her brand more accessible.
Working on the looms in the Faustine Steinmetz studio
The Steinmetz team in action
The studio needed plenty of work when Steinmetz first moved in – she even had to build herself a bedroom.
Steinmetz at her desk
Sketches of the spring summer 2016 Faustine Steinmetz collection
Steinmetz has created variations on basic pieces like the tracksuit and the denim jacket.
Photography by Jaime Stoker for Yahoo Style
Like any young designer showing at London Fashion Week this season,
Faustine Steinmetz has made a few personal compromises for her art. She is currently living at her studio: a large, shed-like structure in Seven Sisters, north London, which houses the looms that are used to weave her collection. “We took this old wood factory a year ago, and it was entirely flooded,” she says, laughing. “We redid all the walls, and we made ourselves a bedroom – but we don’t have a door.”
Right now, the 29-year-old Parisian designer is willing to accept a spartan lifestyle so that she can create luxurious products. Steinmetz specialises in hand-woven pieces, which can each take a week or longer to make; invest in something from her collection, and you know it has been made with the utmost care and expertise.
Until last season, in fact, she was weaving every fabric from scratch. Now, in order to grow her label, she works with a combination of hand-woven and factory-made materials, and at this morning’s spring/summer 2015 presentation, she showed a larger collection than ever. “We want the brand to be quite democratic,” she explains. “We want to be able to make amazing pieces that take a really long time, but we also want to be able to have things for people who like the brand and want to be able to buy it more easily.” The factory fabrics allow her to offer some more affordable pieces.
Steinmetz only established her brand in 2013, but it is already causing a stir: her trompe l’oeil ‘denim’ skirt, made of brushed wool that looked like paint strokes, was a stand-out piece last season. For today’s collection, her inspiration came from the distorted paintings of Salvador Dali. She began with a handful of classic fashion pieces – the polo shirt, the tracksuit, the denim jacket, the bag and the jeans – and has created four studies around each one, from a long polo dress that disappears and reappears before your eyes, to a jacket that is pulled and knotted across the body.
It’s an unusual approach to a fashion collection – and typical of a designer who is setting out to build one of London’s most distinctive labels. Steinmetz is inspired by brands like Maison Martin Margiela, “who came in and said ‘I don’t like fashion the way it is right now – I’m just going to do my thing. And not because I want to be different, but because I want to do something interesting.’ I love that,” she says.
At this morning’s presentation, her models popped out of holes in a wall, giving the impression of a living art exhibition – so that a bag hung on a disembodied arm, and a pair of denim-clad legs appeared only from the waist down. “I’m quite happy to be able to cut up my silhouette, and say ‘We work around pieces,’” she explains. She has no interest in putting on a runway show. “To me, the image that catwalk gives is one of walking down the street and wowing everybody. I find it almost embarrassing, you know? Because that’s not the kind of woman I am, and that’s not really who I want to sell clothes to.” Glamour is not for her; instead, she’s trying to find a whole new way of thinking about fashion. “I think it’s more important to focus on the piece itself.”
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