31 October 2022 |
“Comfort is important,” says Elliss Solomon of the ethos behind her namesake label Elliss, founded in 2016. Hailing from London, her work is defined by sublime graphics, sustainable compositions and utterly wearable garments to take you from a lavish supper club to a sunny picnic in the park. She describes the Elliss girl as someone who has a quiet confidence; that follows her own mind and isn’t afraid to stand out. Solomon says: “She loves to spend time finding individual pieces for her wardrobe and home. She’s intriguing, focused on details yet pragmatic in her own style.” Crucially comfortable with a peerless transitional ability, everything Elliss offers is ineffable.
Generally, Solomon finds inspiration in her love of collage; just as one medium entails, “taking elements of something that exists and making it into something entirely new, a new aesthetic that represents you,” the other involves, “a minimal but considered silhouette allows the print to carry the item.” As the designer explains, her SS23 collection – titled What Goes Up Might Go Down – was born from elusive vintage magazines and old-fashioned artist manuals – figurative images used to sharpen an artist’s skill in illustrating the human body. “When researching for this season I came upon a rich catalogue of vintage artist manuals with amazing figurative imagery – imagine old-school life models in various positions, in black and white, sepia or faded colours – to use as a starting point for my collage. These images were then manipulated and inverted, playing with scale and position, in turn, creating the visual language for our SS23 collection.” The distorted and magnified collage-scapes she conceptualises show faceless winged creatures, floating weightlessly through sky-blue hues, mesh fabrics and fluid silhouettes, as well as the silhouettes of hands, checkerboards and diagonal stripes. The resulting feeling is one of clarity, calmness and serenity.
Each season, Elliss selects a few exceptional female figures to champion with its eclectic, cyber-aesthetic graphics too. For SS23, the powerful women selected were Mabel Lee – a Chinese-American women’s rights activist, who campaigned for women’s suffrage in America and was the first Chinese woman in the US to earn a doctorate in economics – and Helen Burroughs, a Black American educator and civil rights activist who fought for equal rights in race and gender and furthered women’s opportunities past simple duties of house work by opening her own school. “Mabel Lee and Helen Burroughs were both pioneers of what they believed in, fighting for women’s equality and education at a time when it was difficult to speak up. We of course all know and appreciate the well-known female activists of our time, but I believe it’s so important to also hear about these maybe lesser-known women’s activists and educate ourselves about those that fought for the rights we have today,” says Solomon. “This collection is all about exploring what you believe in, whether it’s the fantastical or something more grounded like education.”
In the industry, Solomon names Katherine Hamnett and Vivienne Westwood as other designers that have her admiration as they’ve never been afraid to speak up. “They are the original voices of sustainability within fashion,” she says. What Goes Up Might Go Down explores the notions of the fantastical, the ethereal and the otherworldly by means of accepting one’s own reality and to Solomon, that means being explorative and open-minded in life while also remaining grounded – and the collection is a play on that.
This season sees the designer expand into stretchy denim, earthy knitwear and soft silk too. Standouts include a luxe pair of split-hem denim trousers, a series of sheer printed ankle dresses, and silky printed maxi skirts that cling to the skin. “I like the balance of using mesh alongside the heavier fabrics and it has been fun to play with the balance of the collection this season with the introductions of the new fabric ways,” Solomon says. “Mesh lends well to the prints, it feels light and interactive with the body which is something that’s always played a huge role in the print design within the collections.” Elsewhere, an oversized, asymmetric ribbed-knit jumper stands in stark contrast next to a snug halter neck knit cropped top with rolling hems, rendering a surreal sense of wonder in search of harmony and acceptance in the uncertain. Classic blue jean graphics printed on seductive, fluid fabrics create the illusion of actual denim and knitted mini ‘Droplet’ bags come with a boned structure evoking the essence of Elliss, sensual comfort.
A graduate of Central Saint Martin’s prestigious womenswear design course, the goal wasn’t always to start a brand of her own, but with discovering the elements of the fashion industry that she didn’t enjoy, she found her calling. Solomon recalls, “I didn’t enjoy working with animal products such as leather and seeing how much waste went into the process of running a label in the wrong way, I knew I wanted to work more sustainably. This way of thinking started to influence my design during my graduate collection and was the reason I started my own brand after all!” In fact, at a time when there wasn’t as abundant of a sustainable market, Solomon fit herself into that gap. “I’m a firm believer that the most sustainable way to shop is to buy vintage but I wanted to create environmentally friendly products that I felt were needed to supplement a vintage wardrobe. When I was shopping for myself, I felt that flattering silhouettes in sustainable materials were missing from the market, so I designed with that in mind, creating wardrobe staples in beautiful soft fabrics that are also sustainable,” she explains. “The brand was born with a handful of jersey products, from underwear to tees and bodies. All of which are worn close to the body. These are items that you wouldn’t necessarily want to buy second-hand.” Indeed an integral part of the Elliss brand, sustainability is roused in this expressive range with the exclusive use of recycled denim, silk and PET or organic cotton. Elliss is everlasting.
Photography by Peter Carter.
