LFW SS13 Ones To Watch: Hellen Van Rees

Hellen Van Reese graduated from Central St. Martins earlier this year, and now her sustainable collection gets an airing as one of Vauxhall Fashion Scout’s ones to watch. A brightly coloured collection of deconstructed tweed is accessorised with cubic blocks of the same material, sometimes on a skirt or a shoulder, sometimes worn as a hat. We grab a moment with her backstage to find out the how, where and why of her collection…

Planet Notion: You make your own fabrics, can you talk us through the process?
Hellen Van Rees: I’ve been looking  at Chanel and their tweed fabrics, they use so many different types of yarn to construct one fabric, their garments are really exquisite and that’s the idea that I started with.

PN: Where do you find fabric to re-use?
HVR: I started sourcing my yarn from remnants of knitting factories, and then i weave them into fabric so the garments are seamless.Everything is sustainable material.

PN: How did the idea for the cubes come about?
HVR: I wanted to do a modern twist on Chanel because we’ve seen it! So I’ve been looking at contemporary artists like Rachel Whiteread who fill rooms with lots of three-dimensional cubes and I thought it would be really cool to do Chanel with cubes; like future Chanel!

PN: Did you make the shoes yourself as well?
HVR: I remake the fabric in the shape of the shoes.

PN: Are you finished with tweed now, or do you think it will make an appearance in your next collection?
HVR: I think there’s a lot more to explore, I keep getting more ideas just from doing it. I think I will keep going but for example this season I’ve been adding rubber coating and I will keep adding new things.

PN: Finally, is making fabric your biggest passion?
HVR: It’s the basis I start my collection with. I always start with a fabric idea or a construction idea and only then do I start thinking about shape and what type of garments I will make.

Words – Carys Kirkpatrick
Photos – Kaye Ford