This morning at London's Connaught Hotel Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi, the husband and wife design duo behind , unveiled their resort 2014 collection. We were on hand to see the pretty printed dresses and colourful tailoring for ourselves (read:start an extensive shopping list) and talk to Thea about why this is their dream festival wardrobe.
Tell us about the collection.
Were really feeling pink at the moment; its a really optimistic colour. I dont know whether thats because weve got two daughters and theyre brainwashing us, but that was our starting point. When it comes to resort were always listening to our customers and when were designing were always thinking of our friends and what they want from a wardrobe.
A lot of our friends are in the music business or theyre filmmakers and now were a bit older theyre CEOs of companies and theyre all freaking out about what to wear to festivals. They were going to Coachella, they might have a meeting at the same time and then coincide it with a mini break so we were thinking of their wardrobe for that really.
So what will they be wearing?
The festivals are so much more glamorous than they were and everyones wearing designers rather than just rocking up in wellies and a denim cut-off skirt. So weve got a long devoree dress which you can wear with flip-flops on holiday or with trainers to a festival and then with high heels for a party. Then weve got luxury
sweatshirts, a silk shirt you could wear to a meeting and then go out in it, a wrap dress thats more couture-like, more dressed up. We wanted everything to be a bit folky but not hippy so weve engineered some florals and then made them technicolour and put lines of colour through them. The idea is that you can wear everything with flats and wear it anywhere, pack it in your suitcase and go.
We did it a few seasons ago in New York but it was more for the catwalk, it would have been a bit of a nightmare to wear in real life. But these are cool, simple shapes, a string bikini and a classic one piece.
Ive never been. I cant think what it coincides with but theres always a reason why we cant go. We should definitely go - it looks so amazing, so sunny. But hopefully some of our clothes will make it there.
Is designing resort quite liberating?
There is less pressure. We just think about what people want to wear whereas with the mainline we think more about whats new and exciting. We should probably think about what people want to buy all the time I suppose! We take quite a lot of shapes that weve worked on in that have been popular and just put a print on it and its probably much more sellable than what we put down the catwalk.
Do you prefer designing the mainline or resort collections?
I think I enjoy both for different reasons. Obviously the mainline collection is a bit more torturous because youre really trying to do something new, you want it to be really good and theres more pressure. Resort is more fun but the mainline is more satisfying.
How do you cope with designing so many collections in a year?
Im not sure! It seems to be getting busier and busier. I thought we were really busy before we did resort and pre-fall but I dont know what we were doing. Sitting, just thinking. We used to procrastinate and debate a lot about colour or what particular shade of pink wed use but now its right, ok lets do it, bam. Its made us much more efficient. That and having kids because you have no time.
What else are you working on?
Were about to launch childrenswear for girls aged 6 months to 5 years. Were soft launching it in Paris in the next few weeks so were making the samples right now. (She shows us pictures of a cobalt blue coat and white floral printed dress on her phone. Theyre seriously beautiful. Were pretty excited.) Were going to do simple shapes and scale down the print. We havent got any stockists yet so well be selling it in Preen and hopefully well be launching our website very soon so it will be available on there.
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