An Exclusive Look Inside the Studio of London’s Buzziest Designer
We got a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Charlotte Simone AW17 collection.
Fall and winter mean wrapping brightly colored scarves around our necks and wearing as many layers as we can at once. Which is why we can’t get enough of Charlotte Beecham, the London-based designer who makes the most whimsical (read: cozy), fluffy and colorful fur scarves, jackets, and hats for her brand, Charlotte Simone.
Today marks the launch of the Charlotte Simone AW17 collection‚ what Beecham describes as “an ode to the ’90s, inspired by my childhood memorabilia and ’90s sitcoms. Look out for fuzzy bucket hats, berets, zangy stripes and slap-on bracelets. This season brings back rainbow brights—no dull shades, no neutrals. The color palette is full of zest and fluffy fun!” Like we said, this isn’t your grey-and-cream turtleneck brand, and we love it. Beecham gave us behind-the-scenes photos from the making of the collection, so we could see it all come together. Scroll through the gallery below and prepare to be counting down the days to cold weather. Yes, we’re serious.
“This image was taken on my phone at a trade show. Trade shows are always the best place to kick-start the creative process; they are always full of new and exciting textures, fabrics and wovens!”
“The design process always starts by gathering inspiration from all different points of interest. It can be textures, images, sounds and feelings.”
“This mood board was my base point for the collection. It summarizes the CS girl—fun, fashion-forward, city chic.”
“Colored swatches—compiling our color palette. It helps me to see the colors in the flesh.”
“Color palette for AW17.”
“Color matching is key! This is one of the most important stages of the design process and really helps us draw the collection together as we design.”
“As we start to develop our designs, we continue to refer back to our pantones so we don’t lose sight of our perfect color combinations!”
“I’m a picky little lady when it comes to color matching!”
“It can get pretty crazy when we are in the midst of designing, so we keep all our inspiration boards and initial sketches on the wall to remind us of where we are headed!”
“This is a selection of my initial sketches.”
“Adding color really helps me to visualize the collection coming together!”
“When I have decided on a couple of key styles, it really helps to draw them all out together so I can visualize the collection coming together—creating that CS girl gang!”
“My desk is my happy place! It’s great to see all the hard work start to pay off!”
“Once we have received a sample, we check the color against our pantone reference.”
“This is snapped in our London studio. Our production team is checking the first samples' fit against our initial spec measurements.”
“Here you can see the computer CAD of our AW17 Candy Print Lining. We study the design, match colors, and check all is good to go.”
“This image shows the development of our Candy Print Lining—the AW17 [collection] sees the candy print turn a shade darker.”
“Covered in samples! This is what the majority of our office looks like throughout the designing period—more is more, and our cupboards can’t fit it all!”
“For our AW17 presentation, I was inspired by busy crossroads, mirrored surfaces, and ’90s nostalgia!”
“This was an amazing moment captured before the AW17 Showcase. Nothing compares to the feeling of opening your latest collection to the world for the first time!”
