Triumph supports creatives with Women in Making campaign

With cobbled streets, fashionable shops, theatres and lovely eateries (including one by Jamie Oliver) Seven Dials is undoubtedly one of my favourite chill-out places in London.  Conveniently located near Covent Garden, Leicester Square and Holborn tube stations, Seven Dials has a village-like feel that is characteristic of the area.   And as the sun is shining warmly and I am trading in my sweaters for light dresses, I am keen to update my lingerie to suit the new season.  Having learned that underwear maker Triumph – the official catwalk lingerie supplier during London Fashion Week – also provides a fitting service, I wasted no time to go down to their concept store – Maison Triumph at 57-59 Monmouth Street in Seven Dials to have a look. 

In keeping with Triumph’s 128-year heritage, the Maison Triumph shop has an old-worldly charm about it.  

While it has an airy, relaxed atmosphere, I feel I am entering a lady’s boudoir.  Upstairs you’ll find on display its current collections including divinely desirable and sensuous luxury ranges, special body shapers and minimising lingerie for fuller figures.  Also there is a wide range of sexy designs. Perfect to receive as gifts.  (Husbands and boyfriends take note.)

 Downstairs in the basement is where its creative workshops and talks are held throughout the month of April with demonstrations and classes for illustrations, textile design, crockery and cooking.  

Throughout the store are displays of the work by the creative women, including jewellery designer Hayley Kruger and textile designer Karen Woods. I've picked up a schedule and hope to join one of these sessions. 

As for my quest to find a new summer bra, the friendly Ieisha was very helpful.  After telling her what I was after – to find a flattering but comfortable bra -  I was shown to the fitting room where we had a discussion about my size, and after measuring under my bust, Ieisha when to find the suitable bras.  She returned with a couple of options for me to try.  While I love the more luxury half-cup design in cream with black contrasting trim from the luxury range,  I felt the Amourette design in soft stretch lace was more flattering for my slight build.  I can see why Ieisha said this is their best seller.  

I tried it on and loved it instantly, while a few moments later Ieisha returned with  a half-padded one of the same Amourette range and another full-padded one with soft flexible under-wiring for comfort.  They were all nice but after fitting them and talking it through with Ieisha, I found the fully-padded option was the best one for my summer needs; suitable for dresses and Tee-shirts too.  The selected Amourette 300 comes in the usual black and white, but this season they are also in a fuchsia colour called Passion Fruit and a mauve one called Volcano (see picture above).  Feeling inspired, I went for the Passion Fruit, imagining it will look nice under lacy tops for alfresco dining.  To go with it I selected the lacy Maxi brief over the Tai option.  More details on the Amourette range can be found by clicking HERE.  

This has been a very successful visit to the Maison Triumph concept store which will run till June 2014.  

All photos above featuring Maison Triumph in Seven Dials are by Lucia Carpio for My Fashion Connect. 

Coinciding with the pop-up, Triumph is also hosting a very fittingly-named campaign - “Women in Making” - an initiative to empower women, “to celebrate true craftsmanship and expertise”, and give them a head-start in developing a successful business.  Triumph wants to reach out to creative professional creative women dubbed “Makers” across a variety of disciplines. 

Women in Making 2014 influential panel of creatives include, left to right, Thea Green, Lizzie McQuade, Roksanda Illincic, Georgina Coulter and Sophia Webster.

Women are invited to show off their inspirational business idea via the triumph.com/womeninmaking website.  They can create their own social profile through showcasing their inspirations,  their craft and proposed business plans.   Culminating in June, a winner of the “Women in Making” competition will be announced and her prize will include a £10,000 bursary from Triumph to contribute towards her business, and also a year’s worth of valuable mentoring from a panel of “Influencer Makers”, plus the chance to be showcased in Fenwick of Bond Street.

The ‘Women in Making’  competition was debuted in Autumn/Winter 2013.  This year, the line-up of influential mentors and judges for this SS2014 season.  They include Thea Green (founder of Nails Inc), Lizzie McQuade (winner of the Autumn/Winter 2013 campaign), fashion designer Roksanda Ilincic, Georgina Coulter (Fenwick Bond Street’s womenswear and lingerie buying manager) and Sophia Webster (British Fashion Council’s new generation award winner). As well as offering advice and mentorship to the candidates and the eventual winner,  the panel of  Makers will also be creating one-off designs showcasing their respective attributes. Roksanda will customise 5 sets of lingerie, called ‘Roksanda’s Amazing Sensation’ that will be displayed and sold within Maison Triumph.

Thea will create a one off nail colour for Triumph, named ‘Makers Red’ which will be a free gift at Maison Triumph from mid-April. She will also be supporting Triumph on their collaboration with London Fashion Week by providing a nail colour to all the shows Triumph lingerie is supplied to.

Sophia will create three customised shoes that will be showcased within Maison Triumph.

Lizzie McQuade will be creating bespoke hats to retail within Maison Triumph.

And finally Georgina will be offering retail insights to the winner in a mentorship session, hosting talks at Maison Triumph to inspire women who want to get into business, as well as working with season’s winner to retail in Fenwick of Bond Street. The influencing “Makers Collective” will provide a series of mentoring sessions to the winner lasting a whole year. So creative women of the universe, don't miss this great opportunity to get a major boost on your ladders to success.