The event was to celebrate the fashion label’s first birthday but also to give a chance for myself and fellow bloggers to see the latest Autumn/Winter Collection from a highly desirable company.

Mint Velvet – a flourishing fashion brand

LadyM Presents met with Liz, Lisa and Jane the cofounders of Mint Velvet at the event and was so taken by their enthusiasm for the brand and their love of fashion. The Mint Velvet ladies are all all working mothers with modern lifestyles, it seems clear that they wanted to create something by women for women.  Now they are into their third season with the brand.  We couldn’t resist an interview with Liz Houghton, Founder and MD of this fantastic emerging fashion label.

Mint Velvet – the starting point:

Q: When was the Mint Velvet brand created and what was the inspiration for the type of fashion collections you work upon?

A: Myself, Lisa and Jane had spotted a huge gap in the market for fashion for women over 25.  We ourselves wanted clothing that was glamorous, but had a relaxed feel to it – something that could be worn every day, yet still made us feel confident.  All three of us have a genuine passion for fashion so it seemed like a natural step to create Mint Velvet.

Q: What encouraged you to get into this industry and what was your route into it?

A: I started out as a graduate trainee in Arcadia.  I then worked my way up across brands at Arcadia to become Brand Director.  It was during my time at Arcadia that I met Lisa and Jane. Our collective years of knowledge and experience across Buying and Design gave us the confidence to start our own brand.  Here at Mint Velvet, we are creating a brand for women just like ourselves, which makes us different from other brands who are perhaps a little distanced from their market.

Q: Where do you get your ideas from for your collections and where do you source materials from ?

A: Inspiration comes in many forms for us – art, film, our surroundings (landscapes and wildlife feature strongly in our AW10 collection) and homes.

Autumn/Winter 2010 Collection

Mint Velvet hit the A/W trends on the head with a fabulous range of tops for the office, for a day shopping and for a night on the town. Matched with luxurious knitwear, smart jackets, comfy tunics and fantastic jeans and accessories, what any woman would want to base this season’s wardrobe on.

THE STATEMENT COAT

Charcoal Jacquard Coat & Coffee Leather Jacket, by Mint Velvet

An organic-feel shearling or an of-the-moment winter trench is the perfect statement for outwear this season, such as this Charcoal Jacquard Coat.  Meanwhile this Coffee Leather Jacket is just the softest thing to touch and simply feels luxurious

TEXTURED KNITS

Charcoal Loop Knit Jacket & Black Fur Shrug, by Mint Velvet

From loopy knitted jackets to chunky sweaters, the key is to layer them such as with this Black Fur Shrug or this divine Charcoal Loop Knit Jacket .

THE BIKER JACKET

Stone Crinkle Leather Jacket & Grey Leather Biker, by Mint Velvet

Brilliantly versatile, dress them up or down with these picks of the bunch; Stone Crinkle Leather Jacket and Grey Leather Biker

PRINTS

Moody Leaf Print Dress & Khaki Floral Silk Longline Tunic, by Mint Velvet

If you buy one thing this season, make it a printed piece. This Moody Leaf Print Dress has intense colours and a blurred photo-effect, whilst the Khaki Floral Silk Longline Tunic maintains the freshness of summer in the winter months, just layer it up!

The overall feel for the AW10 collection is dark and moody; a nod to ‘gothic glamour’ and grunge, with an undercurrent of sexiness.  Standout stories in the collection include:

• MODERN VINTAGE Wrapped up in a subtle silvery palette, lace continues as part of this key trend interpreted into prints, eyelet-style fabrics and delicate knitwear, while black-on-black beading, fringing and fur accessories complete the look.
• TEXTURE This season the feel is just as important as the look, with texture playing a vital role. From plush shearlings, furs, loopy knits, fringe trims and subtle bead details to beautiful cosy knits, burn out fabrics and delicate sheers.

Mixing up contrasting fabric textures with innovative drape and cut form a staple in any Mint Velvet range. This season sees clever pleated silk panels bring a new feel to slouchy jersey dresses, while asymmetric neck and wrap details give a garment individuality and versatility.

Modern Vintage, by Mint Velvet

• MILITARY The Mint Velvet interpretation replaces masculine edges with feminine touches to create a Boho, rather than a Battlefield look. See khaki making a return, alongside a whole palette of gorgeous neutrals. A soft, shearling aviator jacket paired with an easy ruffle-hemmed dress epitomizes our take on this catwalk favourite.
• URBAN LUXE A more modernist and austere feel coming through that we have interpreted in clean modern lines and fabrics, geometric stripes and blocking, zip and seam details in a striking monochromatic palette.

Urban Chic, by Mint Velvet

Often asked about where the name Mint Velvet comes from, the co-founders’ explain:

“In truth, it came from a discussion about what out fledgling brand represented and what ‘ingredients’ it should contain (coincidently while we were drinking large cups of fresh mint tea!). ‘Mint’ sums up the sensory qualities of freshness, serenity and flavour while ‘velvet’ hints at the combination of luxury and touchability. That’s us in a nutshell.”

Back to the interview:

Q: How do you decide what will be featured in your collection, how do you predict trends?

A: Before each collection is designed, we travel to lots of different yarn and fabric exhibitions.  We use these as inspiration for our designs as well as drawing on the cultures and trends of the places we visit.  Each season we’ll also incorporate elements of the key trends, in a wearable way.

Liz Houghton, Founder and MD talking of Mint Velvet’s way of thinking;

“We feel the “relaxed glamour” ethos is unique in itself.  We genuinely create a collection that we will love, so we put our hearts and souls into it.  We ensure all of our garments are made to the highest quality, in luxurious  fabrics, with extra special finishes and at affordable prices.  Plus, we aim to offer the highest standard of service in our stores and online”.

Q: What is next for Mint Velvet?? What are your goals for 2010/11?

A: We want to see Mint Velvet grow, but maintain the feeling of the brand, by staying in touch with our customer and her needs as well as keeping the personal touches.  We also want Mint Velvet to be a brand people enjoying a part of – both customers and employees.  We are very lucky to have such a dedicated team who all believe in the Mint Velvet ethos.

Where to buy Mint Velvet

The entire collection is available online but also you can savour the sensory experience at their stand-alone boutiques in Chichester or Windsor or in one of our 60 in-store ‘mini-boutiques’ in premium department stores such as House of Fraser, Fenwicks, and now John Lewis. Mint Velvet hope to open more than 60 outlets in the UK, and since co- owner Jane lives in Tunbridge Wells, LadyM Presents have already put a request in for a Mint Velvet store in the heart of the Kent town!

Tunbridge Wells Fashion Week S/S 2010

Tunbridge Wells Fashion Week

The catwalk show brought together my favourite eclectic mix of leading brands, local boutiques and some very fabulous vintage.  The Brew House Hotel’s charming venue of The Old School House was perfect for an intimate evening of fashion.

Opening

The show opened with a parade of NSPCC t-shirts (the charity the event was raising money for) and moved swiftly on to Superdry, the brand that plays every element of casual and cool with a preppy Americana feel.  There were some great casual weekend wear and some lovely jersey knits.  Having said that I did feel that we had been short changed out of a great opening. I love a bit of glamour and was expecting a feature piece or a grand opening.  But we all have to do casual/weekend wear sometimes, so it was a welcome balance to the rest of the evening.

Country Stile & Gently Worn Vintage

Country Stile was next up with a great balance between outfits for the traditional country lady and gentlemen and some fantastic takes on this seasons pastels and soft tailoring.  They also married their outfits with some great accessories and some fabulous handbags.

Country Stile

Quite simply the next arrival was the star of the show for me. Gently Worn Vintage.  A fabulous local online store, with some very individual pieces and statement designs from the elegant eras of our past.  For me Gently Worn Vintage was all about the shoes.  Some wonderful pieces of footwear. Pastels again came out and there was some very elegant 50’s style pinned up hair.  Gently Worn Vintage presented some gorgeous detailing, embellishment and captivated my mind for some lovely vintage shopping.

Gently Worn Vintage

Greens & Bod and Ted

Of course fashion isn’t all about the ladies, so there were many interludes through the evening by Greens menswear to give the men something to think about.  A lot of casual tailoring and some fabulous greys.  Grey seems to be the men’s pastel for S/S10.  For men there were a lot of good jackets which can really give a good finish to a mans outfit.

Bod and Ted, the unique boutique from Devon who opened their shop in Tunbridge Wells in January, really hit this seasons key trends with a passion.  They featured a lot of flowing lines, some gorgeous pastels and subliminal blues and had a lot of focus on gorgeous shoes and boots.  They channelled the nautical theme with some lovely jackets and some fab summer tailoring with a new take on city shorts.   One of my favourite outfits of the evening came from one of my favourite designers Malene Birger an ecru and black feather detailed draped Vullan dress.

Bod and Ted

La Belle Femme & Dot your T’s and cross your I’s

A very established boutique in TW is La Belle Femme, describes as one of the largest mother-of-the-bride and special occasions stockists in Kent and South East London.  There were some great outfits and a good mix of separates also with a young vision coming through for this traditional “ladies who lunch“ store.  Again materials were flowing and accompanied with some lovely embellishment.  There was some lovely rouching detail on many pieces and for anyone searching for an outfit for a wedding, Ascot, Cheltenham or simply a fabulous garden party; this is the destination for you.

We next welcomed local designer Chloe Bosher with her collection “Dot your T’s and cross your I’s”.  Again we saw a fabulous display of greys and blacks and a great new way of wearing harem pants slightly higher on the leg to change the look of them.  A lot of loose materials and this seasons pastels into acid colours with a silk finish to present a divine collection.

Mini Maya & Little London

A firm favourite boutique in the town of mine is MiniMaya where romance met rock.  Opening outfit was a hot tan leather jacket that was very neatly tailored.  Their collection featured fab tan shoes and a lot of gold accessories. The eclectic mix of music for the runway really worked with MiniMaya’s collection and we saw some lovely satins, leather, muted tones and a lot of hot accessories; cuff bracelets and shell clutches.

Swiftly we moved on to Little London who continued the soft tailoring and gold trend.  There was a very elegant zebra print evening dress accessorised with silver jewellery and there was a great mix of weekend looks and evening attire.  Another of my favourite destinations is Kitch who took an interesting take on the nautical trend with some nautical style embellishment, a lot of layered, statement shoulders and very heavily embellished shoes.  There were again a lot of greys and muted colours and the materials were draped and flowing.  We did see that high heeled trainers seemed to be the footwear de jour for the fashion show, which raised a mixture of opinion about them across the front row.

Closing with Jaeger

Last but no means least the main brand of the show, iconic British brand Jaeger.  We had an introduction to their menswear range stocked at Fenwick, Tunbridge Wells and then moved onto the ladies wear from their centrally located store.  The menswear channelled a classic men’s knitwear with traditional but classy tailoring.  Ladies were greeted with a fabulous shift dress, satin with gigantic poppies on – a fabulous take on the iconic shift dress, a new take on the dogtooth pattern on a lot of materials. In my opinion their star outfit featured silver and pale acid green, some high waisted trousers and a sequined crop jacket.

Jaeger

All in all it was a pleasure to be sitting on the front row at this local event with a London fashion feel. Louise Clark, Karena Sedgwick and the team did a tremendous job to bring this glamorous event to the town and we can’t wait for the A/W collection in September.  Congratulations to Louise and The Brew House Hotel in association with Hoopers department store. Ladies, its time to come to Tunbridge Wells and hit our boutiques, there are some very special pieces to be found. See you there!