We sat down with our Head of Design, Amy Fisher, to talk about all things New Era, our in-house design process and her evolutions as a designer.
How would you sum up the New Era collection?
New Era is aimed at the professional women, one who’s constantly busy and looking for versatile pieces that can take them from the desk during the day, to dinner with friends. The collection features lots of mix and match pieces in legacy prints and fabrics for this very reason. We want to make our customer feel empowered when wearing New Era, she can make a statement and play with accessorising to feel her best.
Where did you find your inspiration when creating New Era?
When we began thinking about the collection, we were inspired to blend heritage styles with trends. We noticed cream was trending as a color that exudes luxury, and as a team, we loved pinstripe as a print, so we focused on melding those elements together. We also knew we wanted to feature a vintage and dark feminine palette, and we built the mood around that. We were inspired by strong women who play with power in fashion like Emma Grede.
“We’re passionate about providing the Club L girl with pieces that empower her and make her feel like she can experiment with her style. Maybe that includes gold hardware or androgynous styling. It’s up to the wearer.”
How did adaptability and comfort inform your design decisions?
Personally, I’m always on the lookout for clothes that blend style and comfort; I think that’s a marker of a good piece. So, I bring that same philosophy to my design process. It starts with the fabric we choose. We selected the most premium fabrics that had a nice hand-feel, as the tailored pieces are quite minimal in style, we wanted the fabric to sing. We also took things a step further, by bonding the fabric to make it thicker and more structured to create more dramatic and angular silhouettes, particularly on our suiting pieces.
How have you seen women’s occasion wear change in recent years?
Obviously, fashion is constantly evolving, and as a brand we’ve always got our Club L girl top of mind. We know she changes, develops, and adapts to the economy and state of the world, so we work to meet her where she is. It's also exciting that fashion is becoming less fractioned, with different consumer groups taking similar staple styles and making them their own. We’ve responded to this by expanding our product range to service different types of customers and their style.
“As an aspiring designer it’s important to find the sweet spot between taking the metaphorical pen your design house gives you and then making the handwriting your own. You need to blend their style with yours to create unique pieces.”
New Era is about empowerment. Do you have a piece of advice you’d give to junior designers?
Don’t be afraid about not getting your dream job right away. You learn so much more from a job you didn’t necessarily want at first. Jobs that don’t seem to be the right fit at first can actually teach you styles and techniques to use in the future to shape your unique design style. For example, if you want to be a dress maker but you get offered a job as a junior garment technician at a uniform company, take it. You’ll learn tailoring and technical skills that will be invaluable and give you a unique spin on your future dress designs.
