Tag Archives: multi-functional

May 14 2013
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May 2013

The Antithesis Collective, Part II

Beach lovers and pool loungers rejoice! As you may already know, every season we work in collaboration with a new designer to expand our collection range and develop a product we wouldn’t have the skills to do on our own. For our second edition of the Antithesis Collective, we are collaborating with Cristina Adami, owner and designer of her eponymous label, to create an exciting, multi-way swimsuit. Born and raised in Italy, Cristina moved to London to complete an MA at Central Saint Martins. She then worked in various areas of the fashion industry, including a 4-year stint at swimwear giant Arena and a commission to create Florence Welch‘s stage outfits, before setting up her own label. Founded in 2011, cristinadami creates limited edition collections of handmade garments, crafted using vintage fabrics, end-of-line lengths, and sequins & beads from around the globe.

Cristina comments: ‘It was a pleasure working with Antithesis for the level of creativity and attention to details given to every garments. I first came across Antithesis on social networks and was impressed by the ethos behind the label. I equally promote slow fashion and individuality with a versatile yet unique approach to fashion. As I have first started my career in swimwear and have a personal love for beach side holidays, working with Antithesis felt like the perfect collaboration and was great fun!’ Results coming very, very soon!

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Sep 25 2012
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September 2012

The Ultimate Travel Bag Goes to Paris

Last week, we took advantage of our bi-annual trip to the world-renowned textile tradeshow Première Vision in Paris to test one of our favourite products: the Ultimate Travel Bag! Designed by Charlie Goldthorpe for our first edition of the Antithesis Collective, it transforms from a carry-on suitcase into a shoulder bag or rucksack and comes with a detachable pouch. Here is Renée’s experience:

“The suitcase is the perfect size for a trip of less than a week: I managed to fit in six days-worth of clothes, 2 pairs of shoes, my huge beauty case, a few notebooks and a handful of snacks. I normally travel with a backpack so it was a relief not to have all the weight on my shoulders, plus it looks much more stylish! The detachable pouch and strap came in very handy to carry valuables such as my travel tickets, passport, wallet, phone and keys.

Once in Paris, I removed the Design Go trolley and folded the bag into an oversized tote in which I put my work files, business cards, lunch and the pouch containing my personal items. A women’s day bag can never be too big! Before going out at night, I simply dropped the bag into my room and wore the pouch as a chic evening clutch.

Overall I am very pleased by the versatility of the bag. Day or night, work or leisure, city or countryside: whatever your look or activity, the bag adapts to you. I definitely recommend it to all of you nomadic cosmopolitan females out there!”

Available now at our online store.

Excited to be in Paris! Travelling with the bag as a suitcase and wearing the Anti-Blazer

Ready for PV wearing the bag as tote, our Two-Piece Blouse and High-Waisted Trouser

Going out with the pouch, our Little Navy Dress, Fringe Attachment and Reversible Overpiece

Saturday Market shopping with the pouch & strap wearing our Reversible Overpiece

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Aug 26 2012
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August 2012

Manufacturing Files I: Neobotanic

Welcome to the first of a series of articles dedicated to the wonderful people behind the production of Antithesis’ clothing! Finding a good manufacturer is not easy, especially for a start-up brand with tiny orders. Yet we have managed to find two London-based production units who accepted to cut and sew our reversible/modular/transformable pieces.

One of them is Neobotanic, a bespoke production unit located in the shadows of the Olympic stadium in Hackney Wick. Founded only two years ago by Olga Ankudinova, it already employs four full-time machinists and one cutter. All the workers are women who emigrated from East European countries such as Ukraine and Latvia to work in the UK, where wages are much higher. They usually work a minimum of 8 hours a day but are always happy to work overtime to compensate for the off-season period where the factory sometimes needs to shut down.

It was not part of Olga’s plans to start up her own manufacturing unit. With a fashion diploma from the St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Design in hand, she moved to London to find her dream job. After a few months of unfruitful job hunting, she was offered a small pattern cutting and sampling contract, which then turned into a production order. With the help of a skilled friend, she spent countless hours sewing dozens of dresses, which had been cut directly on the carpet of her flat! She gradually built up her clientele by word-of-mouth.

Neobotanic is not only a manufacturer, they also design and produce women’s and men’s collections. Using bright and bold graphics inspired by natural elements such as flowers and plants, they offer their customers the chance to make a flamboyant fashion statement.

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Aug 20 2012
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August 2012

Save The Date – ANTITHESIS launch 06/09/2012!

Antithesis has finally arrived! We are happy to announce our launch event will be on Thursday, 6th September 2012 hosted by the Primo Bar, Westminster Bridge Park Plaza from 6pm.

We’d like to tell you a bit about our journey in the hopes of encouraging you to come down and join us in celebrating the formal birth-day of our label. Although it’s been a pleasure carrying our baby to term, like most expectant mother’s we are now excited to see the fruits of our labour in the world!

ANTITHESIS was born when Managing Director, Zahra Ash-Harper and Creative Director, Renée Lacroix teamed up to produce their final MA projects at London College of Fashion. It was our shared belief that not only could modular/multifunctional design be a major influence in slow fashion it could also facilitate creativity in personal fashion styling, which brought us together.

Inspired by powerful women of the 21st century, who maintain frantic work schedules whilst cultivating successful family lives, as well as communing, travelling and socialising internationally. ANTITHESIS decided our first call to action should be to dress these women in a capsule collection sympathetic and befitting their chosen lifestyles. It just so happens we are those kinds of women – we are mates with them, we admire, love and celebrate them too!

So… after months of hard work and organisation, we couldn’t be more excited to finally be launching our first collection the ‘Carry on Closet’ a 10 piece  transformable capsule collection, easily packed into  a multifunctional carry-on-case specially designed in collaboration with Charlotte Goldthorpe.

Our launch night promises to be full of wonderful things, between 6pm-8pm our lovely guests will have the chance to try and buy our Autumn/Winter collection. We encourage you to enjoy a night for the ladies! Pitch up with your girlfriends and share a fashion secret!

The bar will also be open for you to enjoy a cheeky cocktail whilst you shop, and at 7pm we will be holding a short catwalk presentation so  guests can get a feel for the versatility ANTITHESIS garments offer. There will also be a “try-it-on raffle” where every time you try on one of our pieces from the collection you will receive a raffle ticket and if you’re lucky even win a prize!

If all this didn’t sound like the perfect evening out with the girls, the hotel’s Ladie’s Night will start from 8pm onwards, with live music, £4 cocktails and free Mandara Spa treatments! Its an evening not to be missed, so if you would like an invite then simply e-mail us at info@antithesis.co (don’t worry your eyes have not deceived you, our e-mail address is just .co)

We would love for you guys to pay us a visit!

 

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Apr 15 2012
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April 2012

The Antithesis Collective

Each season we will be working in collaboration with a new designer in order to develop a one-off product to complement our collection. This will not only enable us to expand our range, but also allow recent graduates to bring their designs to the market. For the first edition of the Antithesis Collective, we approached Charlie Goldthorpe, an artefact and accessory maker who graduated from the London College of Fashion in 2010. Combing heritage and modern craft techniques, her work has personality and aims to capture the essence of the user within the product: ‘I am excited to work with Antithesis as I love the idea of a garment or accessory being multifunctional as in today’s society we’re always on the go!  It is a fantastic challenge to design such an item and I’m thrilled to be collaborating!’.

Here are a few images from her final MA collection. Can’t wait to see the results? Neither can we!

For more info, visit Charlie’s website.

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Apr 08 2012
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April 2012

Behind the Seams

We thought we would tell you a little bit about us, the team behind Antithesis. Renée Lacroix and Zahra Ash-Harper met just over a year ago during an event, How to Start-Up in Fashion, organised by University of the Arts London. After realising how much we had in common business-wise, we decided to partner up for our final MA project. Our ideas gradually evolved into a brand and, upon graduating, we decided to follow our dreams: launching our own label.

While we had the same business idea, offering versatile and multi-functional womenswear, our vision unfolded from two distinct paths. As a designer concerned by over-consumption and its environmental impacts, Renée’s interests are primarily linked to sustainability. With a philosophy degree under her belt, Zahra’s motivations are driven by the idea of empowering female consumers by providing choice, facilitating individuality and co-creation in fashion garments.

With a career background in project management and communications, Zahra is responsible for overarching business strategy, day-to-day management of the business, marketing and communications. Trained as a womenswear designer, Renée is responsible for art direction, developing the brand image and product management from research to design and production.

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Mar 04 2012
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March 2012 Video

Carry On Closet Film

Here is a short stop-motion video we created to give you a foretaste of our upcoming collection. Many thanks to our collaborators: filmmaker Emma Freed, photographer Darwaysh Onhisown, makeup artist Stephanie Stokkvik and model Natalie Maury. Enjoy!

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Sep 08 2011
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September 2011

Introduction

This blog is a diary of the thoughts, feelings and inspiration behind the development of our slow fashion brand, Antithesis, which we aim to launch in September 2012.

Countering fast fashion, our aim is to design garments that are physically and emotionally durable. We are focused on developing clothing regardless of trends or seasons and offer women the opportunity to wear stylish yet timeless clothing that will stand the test of time. Being a strong advocate for slow fashion, we believe good design should last and be cherished.

We are young, aspirational women and would like to share our journey with you. Hopfully we’ll get to the destination we seek. However, of real importance is the journey, and we’ll be using this blog to first and formost document where we go and how we get there!

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