Baartmans & Siegel fashion interview with Amber Siegel

After graduating from London College of Fashion, Baartmans & Siegel Creative Director, Amber Siegel, gained vital experience in some of the world most revered fashion institutions including Victor & Rolf, before co-founding her own designer brand alongside Wouter Baartmans.

Now with their collections sold exclusively at Harrods and named as ‘Ones to Watch’ at London Fashion Week in 2011, Amber Siegel is the perfect industry figure to draw your inspiration and advice from.

Was it always your intention to create label, or did it happen almost on an impulse?

After first meeting in 2007 we always worked together, and had in mind to eventually fully- launch our own business, however it was really Harrods approaching us mid 2010 that propelled us to create Baartmans and Siegel. Harrods saw our graduation collections and invited us to participate in their prestigious support platform initiative- ‘Harrods Launches’. We were the first menswear label to receive this award, which was a fantastic honor, since then we have been on the menswear schedule and rhythm of creating 2 collections a year, presenting in Paris and also showing at London Fashion Week on the men’s day. This January shall be our fifth collection.

In such a highly competitive field how were you able to stand out from all your competition?

Studying in London and interning in global international fashion houses has truly molded our focus and informed our working habits. The menswear presence in fashion is currently at an exciting time, with pulses of inspiring creativity and innovation, from all spheres of the menswear scene. Men’s day of London fashion week is a real highlight of this. For us we aim to always stay connected to the wearer, while combining our creative exploration, creating luxurious, and desirable garments, is core to our belief in design. We feel that it is this combination of purpose and indulgence that has proven to be successful for us.

Did your time at university help or influence you in any way when creating Baartmans & Siegel? If it did, what aspects?

University is a very secure environment to absorb and explore, so in this sense we both benefited by playing with ideas and techniques, adhering to design rules and principles and then completely ignoring them, or challenging them. We are both graduates of London College of Fashion, and at our time of study our tutors were looking to expand on traditional menswear, and encourage us to be experimental, however by our nature we always had a commercial and wearable grounding- so despite experimenting- we were always core to our own views and aesthetics, regardless if it met with approval and extremely stubborn as students, and we were fortunate that they realized our vision, and acted as sounding boards for our collections.

What would you be doing if you had never created Baartmans & Siegel?

By nature we are both very visual and creative, as well as focused and at times controlling, so creating a company of some- kind would always be a natural progression, perhaps architecture or interiors if we were not working for another fashion company? It’s hard to really think of another career, as we both specialized in design from a young age. Fashion is a broad industry so there are so many areas which one can find themselves an inclusive corner and career.

Where do you draw your influence and inspirations from?

We largely look at aspects of popular culture within the past 100 year, which we marry with technical aspects we wish to explore, as well as, fabrications, pattern and colour. We tend to look at themes and masculine characters, which conjure a specific feeling, setting the tone and definition of the collection. We are more thematic, than conceptual in our approach. We constantly collect digital, paper and fabric scrap and note books, adding thoughts and sights that we find interesting- which we then look to incorporate-in subtle ways to our garments.

Do you think of your ideas and creations on the spot or as a result of working as a team?

Often our ideas are symptomatic and shaped as an evolution following- on from the previous season in a small way- and then married by a boarder theme that is a result of a dialogue, the benefit of us working as a duo. Sometimes at the start of the season our ideas seem erratic, but filtered through time and trial we find creation of its own form.

What has been the hardest aspect of creating Baartmans & Siegel?

Drawing a business structure around a creative enterprise has been the hardest aspect. After being launched by Harrods, we ran with our business and have been learning our way since then. In a weird way we had the beast, so now we are creating the skeleton structure around it.

We are fortunate to have a great network of support.

From your experiences what is one piece of advice you would give to someone looking to follow a similar path?

Surrounding yourself with a supportive and creative teams and friends is really key to being able to move forward. While individual strength is important, it is this creative dialogue that often is the most beneficial. We are fortunate to be a design duo, and so daily voice ideas and experiment, but it is also inspiring and fantastic to work with other industry leaders and creatives, in collaboration, producing beautiful collections and work.

What do you have planned for the future with Baartmans & Siegel?

2012 sees many changes for Baartmans and Siegel, both commercially and creatively.

We are collaborating with interesting creatives, as well as now widening our outerwear and casual wear aspects of the collection. We will be presenting and showing at London Fashion Week for men’s day- as well as expanding our global retail points. We are expanding our team and looking forward to an exciting year of exploration.

Baartmans & Siegel – fashion interview with Amber Siegel