MORE THAN A NAME
Mon 23 Jan
Words Steve Salter
As she approaches design with a multi-disciplinary attitude that brings cross-cultural references into a reinvigorated evolution of menswear, Bianca Saunders tells guest editor Steve Salter of her intent to build a modern heritage brand.
“Since the ANDAM win and the recent Fashion Awards nomination, I’ve been thinking about what it means to be an independent brand,” Bianca Saunders explains as we sit just outside her Hackney Central-based studio. From critical acclaim and industry mentorship to showing during Paris Fashion Week men’s, the last 18 months have been transformative for one of London’s brightest talents. Not only is her distinctive voice being heard, it’s being amplified.
“There are times when I have to remind myself why I wanted to start this straight after RCA, and to channel that person. For me, the most important part of starting a brand is having the right foundation; you need a vision and a plan, in order for people to understand.”
Bianca Saunders
Acknowledging the increased pressure that unquestionably follows taking home a €300,000 prize and her name being mentioned alongside the who’s who of fashion’s past and present, the south London-born designer is ready to cultivate her own legacy, in her own way. “The recognition gives me more motivation to make sure that my brand becomes what I want it to become,” she adds. “And that is a heritage brand – a brand that exists beyond my years. she adds.” After achieving so much already, who would doubt her?
“The main focus of the brand is on making clothes that are both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time,” she explains. In cutting, draping, cinching and contrasting, Saunders both reimagines menswear staples and demonstrates their transformative power when they are worn on different bodies. “It’s about taking something boring and making it interesting,” she adds. Everyday jersey T-shirts are transformed by way of delicate ruched flourishes, while experiments in satin textures blur the line between lounge pant and formal trousers. These tweaks turn everyday basics into imposing statement pieces Throughout, there’s both simplicity and complexity at play. But more than pattern cutting trickery, the reason we’re drawn into the sartorial worlds she creates is the autobiographical narrative thread that binds her designs.
“People need to see a design or project and know it’s Bianca Saunders. With this in place, the brand is able to live beyond my control.“
Bianca Saunders
From the moment she presented her friends-inspired and research-driven sartorial exploration of modern black masculinity RCA MA-graduate collection, entitled Personal Politics, we’ve been increasingly drawn into her soft power world. Addressing the tensions between tradition and modernity, freedom and restriction, the masculine and the feminine, and the familiar with the otherworldly, each collection is a micro-universe that delights in duality, while playfully but intelligently reflecting her daydreams and realities. When the white noise of the industry whirs with offers and demands, Saunders centres herself by channeling the focussed graduate who launched her eponymous brand straight after school.
In an interview with i-D last year, she explained that she took the step “because it was the easiest way to have a job that didn’t feel like having a job.” When I remind her of this statement now, she laughs. As the Bianca Saunders brand has grown out of her childhood bedroom in Sydenham into a bustling studio with three other full-time staff members and a team of five interns, the pressures of running a business fall on her shoulders. But more than a job, this is a vocation. “For me, the most important part of starting a brand is having the right foundation; you need a vision and a plan, in order for people to understand,” she adds. The foundations of Bianca Saunders were uniquely strong. Even before writer and model Kareem Reid was lifted over the heads of his fellow cast and bathed in pink light during her graduate show, we understood the vision. In the collections since, as she has expanded her world, she has drawn from touchstones on either side of her British and West Indian background, while taking inspiration from subjects as broad as bodybuilding and modern romance to Jamaican Hard Food.
“While autumn/winter 23 is very much focused on the intricacies of design, the overall theme builds on last season,” she excitedly tells us. From garments that had rigid fronts and soft backs to recipe adorned pieces and a dish-friendly colour palette, Saunders delighted in concepturalising Jamaican Hard Food by playing with material and texture for SS23. Pushing the plate of boiled yam, plantain and dumplings to one side, she looked to Jamaican theatre, in particular the work of Jamaican "King of Comedy" Oliver Samuels, for AW23. “I liked the idea of creating a scene and a space in which different characters could be introduced in a simple way,” she adds. As she prepares to show in Paris for the third consecutive season, the team are busy securing a theatre as the venue and collaborate with the iconic actor and stand up comedian in some capacity. “We’re really challenging ourselves this season,” she adds with a smile. From behind-the-scenes bedroom toils to taking centre stage on the Paris schedule, the brand world that Bianca Saunders is building manages to be an authentic reflection of her, while leaving room for individual interpretations and an existence beyond her. “For me, I’m excited by the longevity this affords, because I haven’t shown all of my cards and I’ve got a lot to show,” she teases.