Talking all things Stripey with ‘We Are Stripes’

 

Ava: “I know exactly how it began, Zofia bought this obscenely stripey dress!”

Zofia: “When I first bought it I thought I looked a bit like Scrooge, it was on sale at Arket, and my mum kindly bought it for me as a present. I wore it to a dinner party and then Ava bought it as well and then another friend (Ellie) also bought it, and then everything sort of fell into place. We organised a photoshoot all around the dress. In the end that is what sparked the whole striped thing.”

Emmie: “Ava and I had a dinner date at Café Bohéme in Soho, we had our notebooks and pens out, it looked like we were doing our homework, definitely had a few stares from people. Then we put together a plan of what we wanted to do, began our Instagram page, and came up with the idea of making a book! Our instagram became a Scrap-book of stripes from every corner of the world.”

 

 

 

 

 

What is your aim with this project?

 

Ava, Zofia, Emmie: “Mainly finish the book and release it to the world. We haven’t really hinted or spoke about it at all to anybody. The reason why the Instagram page was made, was because it is essentially a teaser to the book and what people can expect. 

I do think eventually we will have to venture out into new patterns… polka dots…which is scary…. It will be hard to totally abandon stripes, because we are really noticing that it has become a community of people who are very much like minded and creative. There are so many different ways that we could expand Stripes, we had an idea of creating an agency, which would be a heavily creative space, an Art group. Stripes would obviously be the name for it.”

 

You are working on a book right now, do you think you will be doing magazines as well, coffee table books? 

 

Ava: “Well initially we did want to make a Zeen, but there where just too many photos, collaborations and interviews that we collected over the months, so we have now decided on a book. A pocket book to be exact! Something that is portable.”

 

Can you tell me a bit more about the history of stripes?

 

Ava, Zofia, Emmie: “Stripes were the first pattern to be woven. It is the most simple equation. Which I’m sure you can understand at Eldon Cashmere, if you can hand weave a striped scarf in 20 minutes, that just shows you the simplicity of the pattern. 

Historically stripes were seen as a derogative pattern to wear in public. They had a really negative light on them. Because it is such a loud pattern, more often than not outcasts of society would wear them, prostitutes, criminals. Then they started being used in the navy amongst Sailors to be seen in the fog. Apparently Queen Victoria used to dress her son up in old navy uniforms and that is what made stripes very popular among society.” 

 

 

 

 

We have loved working and collaborating with you girls over the last season, how did you hear about Eldon cashmere? 

 

Emmie: “I found a stripey scarf that was lying around my parents house, I borrowed it and became totally obsessed, then I asked my mum where it was from, since the label came off, and she said Eldon Cashmere!”

Ava: “I remember it was about a week into launching “We are Stripes” Instagram and it was still a small thing for us, but we were very excited about it and had the idea of reaching out to brands to collaborate with. You were one of the first brands on the list and you got back to us, it all kicked off from there. It gave us a lot of confidence to continue with the project, the first stripey photoshoot that we had was with you guys which is just amazing.”

 

 

 

 

Do stripes form your identity? 

 

Ava: “Yes and now polka dots!!

For a long time they really did, and still do, there was a point last year at uni that I literally wore stripes everyday. Decked out in stripes head to toe. I think wearing Stripes is a great starting point to appreciating pattern.”

Ava, Zofia & Emmie: “The three of us are all quite similar, but specialise in very different fields.  Architect, photographer and creative art director and within that it works so well. Emmie, who has the eye and can capture moments, Zofia who is amazing at finding locations and buildings and shapes…” 

 

 

I have been noticing a lot more stripes in fashion lately, do you think that you have influenced something in people, to be more bold? Or perhaps ‘Stripes’ has become a metaphor for the community you have created, it is not just about the pattern anymore, you have given a voice to thousands of people to show their individuality. 

 

Emmie: “The community we have created with ‘Stripes’ has grown so much!! The backlog of photos that we have been sent by young creatives from all over the world is mad! We never thought that we would get such a positive reaction like this. Also what is amazing is that there is no negativity on the page. There are literally zero haters, and we hope it stays like that!! We are young creative women and it is nice to see people appreciating us creating a community for so many other people. It’s very promising for other young creatives.”

Zofia: “We started this project because we wanted a project out of uni, we were feeling uninspired, and we wanted to push ourselves to do photoshoots and collaborate with people. We haven’t got any financial support for this project, so we are purely doing it for ourselves. We kind of hope that other young people will also take inspiration from this. Working with other people is so important, because not only can it inspire you but it also gives you hope!” 

 



To find out more about the trio behind ‘We Are Stripes’ and its journey you can visit - 

@we_are_stripes