London Fashion Week opens today digitally. Bethany William presents capsule coat collection for Selfridges

When is a blanket not a blanket.  It’s when it is married to other blankets and transformed into a desirable coat.

London Fashion Week (19 - 23 February 2021) showcases sustainable fashion designer, Bethany William’s new gender-neutral capsule coat collection which is exclusively for the iconic fashion department store Selfridges.

As with every collection and project Bethany works on, the social and environmental issues go hand in hand. 

“This particular project was inspired by our ongoing work with The Magpie Project, a charity that supports women and children under five in temporary, unsuitable or no accommodation. The Women’s Institute community creates a personal blanket for every baby born into the Magpie Family. A blanket is so much more than a piece of fabric, it is a feeling of comfort and shelter and I wanted that feeling to be at the heart of this capsule collection.” - Bethany Williams

 

Drawing on her inspiration, the collection saw Bethany dive into the historical heritage of vintage and antique wool blankets from across the UK. All the blankets are carefully sourced from vintage sellers, whether that’s Antiques Markets or car boot sales. 

Steeped in history, each blanket sourced tells a story from the textile and weaving techniques, to the county, town or village it was made in. 

One of her favourite pieces sourced for the collection as found on a pitch black frosty morning at Sunbury Antiques Market at Kempton Racecourse. With her phone touch as her only source of light she came across a rare and usually very expensive Welsh, patterned wool blanket with brightly coloured pink and orange patches.”

With this collection, the story continues, as each blanket is given a new lease of life through Bethany’s artistic vision and mastering of design-led upcycling techniques, which created this capsule collection. Shapes for the details on each garment come from historical research into childrenswear that she explored with the V&A Museum of Childhood. The complimentary colour palettes, slightly oversized fit and skilful patchwork techniques all create a unique, bespoke-feel to each garment.

Handcrafted in London, the nine upcycled blanket coats are available in three different jacket styles. Each garment is conceptualised by allocating a specific blanket to each style of jacket based on its weight, thickness and colour. The outer material is the blanket wool for optimal insulation with a 100% organic cotton lining, sourced from Wales.

And the story does not end with the wool that was sourced, each element of these coats has a history. From the UK sourced organic cotton insulation to the handmade wooden buttons made by craftsman Spencer Martin from London Green Wood, a not-for-profit cooperative, using Hackney grown wood or waste wood from local tree surgeons.

Twenty percent of the profits from this collection will be donated to The Magpie Project via The Bethany Williams Benevolent Fund, a fund set up by The Magpie Project and Bethany Williams London.

TO VIEW the PRESENTATION, click HERE.

To DONATE to The Bethany Williams Benevolent Fund, please click HERE.

Discover the designers showcasing on the digital London Fashion Week this season as all digital events are open to everyone from Church’s and Temperley London to Bethany Williams and Nicholas Daley and can be accessed on the London Fashion Week website, on the ‘Schedule’ page. You can also visit the Explore Section to uncover more stories from London’s designer community, listen to podcasts and shop the latest collections!