We believe happiness has to be in the very fabric of our garments
Two weeks to Xmas 2009 and Sula's next Autumn/ Winter collection is in the making in Hanoi, Vietnam. British born Alison Taylor started the fashion design company in 1997 and now sells her clothes worldwide. Her Vietnam based team is young (the average age is 26), mostly female and includes an English speaking manager and a trained tailor and pattern cutter. The atmosphere in the small factory is family like but busy, Alison is keen to look after her staff well and they are aware of it.
For the 2010/11's Collection Alison is accentuating her much loved silk by using woven wool, a material well suited to our cold Western winter weather. Using thick, soft wool imported from India and lined with silk the collection of jackets, skirts and tops can be layered over this season's silk thermal leggings and ‘past your hands’ sleeved underwear.
Alison, of course, keeps abreast of the industry's trends but she aims to make women look their best in any situation. Sula's label is feminine yet casual and wearable. She designs for women like herself who want to wear comfortable and beautiful clothes that flatter the body. People have remarked that ‘when customers tried Sula's clothes they turned into butterflies’ and looking at Alison wearing her own designs, I think it could not be more true!
Alison enjoys experimenting with new materials and techniques but her favorite part of the work is developing new colour palettes. She studied Fine Art at Hull University and she uses what she learnt as a painter to juxtapose contrasting hues to create visual harmony in her collections. She adds, with a smile, that every season she purposely introduces a colour that breaks the rhythm but she does not tell which one. This year's collection comprises a cool palette of pale and watery green and grey, a warm palette of rust, chocolate brown and antique pink and an Xmas palette of velvet black and blood red.
When Sula Vietnam is more established, Alison would like to spend time with the ethnic minorities of North Vietnam who are well known for their traditional dress, embroidery techniques and natural dyes such as the truly amazing indigo blue of the Hmong community. She hopes to be able to integrate them in a one off ‘super duper’ creative collection that would be exciting and innovative. In the meantime she is teaming with a Hanoi based NGO to teach a group of disadvantaged women exciting new needle techniques to hopefully open up their work opportunities.
It was during a holiday here that the Vietnamese sense of style and their history with silk captured her imagination. Now she has been in business for over 10 years and she says she feels motivated by the people's positive and resourceful attitude to life. Alison's busy life is divided between designing two collections a year in the UK, production in Vietnam and several trips a year abroad to promote and sell the collections and it seems that over the years her passion for silk, fashion and her bond with the Vietnamese has become a great a part of her.