The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

Fashion & LifestyleNews & Features

Matthew Williamson: 20 years in fashion

Matthew Williamson: 20 years in fashion
30 October 2015
Grace Cain
Avatar
Grace Cain
30 October 2015

Matthew Williamson is a British designer known around the world for vibrant, chic-bohème designs that incorporate his signature recipe of kaleidoscopic prints, intricate embellishments and luminescent colours. Now, as the designer reaches his 20th year in fashion, it seems that the Matthew Williamson of the future might be very different than the brand we’ve come to know.

Williamson graduated in 1994 from the famed Central Saint Martins, where he studied fashion and print design. From here, the designer’s career was on an upward trajectory – just three years later, he had founded his eponymous label and shown his first collection, Electric Angel, at London Fashion Week.

Over the next few years, Williamson was showered with awards and nominations, receiving global acclaim for both his own label and his collaborations with companies such as Debenhams and The Rug Company. In 2004 he opened his flagship store on Bruton Street in London, and since then has enjoyed a time as creative director at Emilio Pucci, as well as many more collaborations with global powerhouses such as Coca-Cola, Smythson and Swarovski.

Embed from Getty Images

Recently, however, you could be forgiven for thinking that Matthew Williamson and his brand might be slowing down. Earlier this year, he closed his Mayfair Flagship and hit us with the announcement that he would not be showing a collection at London Fashion Week spring/summer 2016.

Initially, this sounded like bad news for the house. However, our worries have well and truly been dispelled as Williamson has outlined just what he wants to do next – and slowing down is the last thing on the list.

Williamson recognises that the industry is changing. More importantly, he recognises that the way people shop is changing. After 20 years in the game, he knows that he has to address these changes if he wants to keep up with his clientele.

Embed from Getty Images

As part of this, he has transformed his former distribution centre in Queen’s Park into an office and showroom, which also features an archive of every single dress he has created over the course of his career.

With this intimate setting as the new hub of the Williamson Empire, the house intends to provide a tailored-for-you service for each of its customers. The Queen’s Park office will play host to private appointments and customer events, but more significantly, it aims to build a relationship with the increasing number of Williamson customers who choose to shop online.

One of the many ways that the internet has impacted the way that we shop is by encouraging a culture of want it now, buy it now, wear it now. One of the reasons that Williamson closed his flagship was so that he could focus all of his energies on this newly demanding online shopper.

Embed from Getty Images

Instead of creating one major collection every six months, he intends to dripfeed smaller collections throughout the year. With this model, customers will no longer have to wait six months between seeing a design on the catwalk and seeing it hanging in their wardrobe. Pieces will be available to buy immediately, and Williamson will be able to design for now, rather than for several months in the future.

Away from the fashion side of things, we can also expect a range of different creative ventures from the designer. Over the course of his career, Williamson has explored various areas of design, particularly interiors – his collaborations with The Rug Company and wallpaper designers Osborne & Little are well known.

Now, he aims now to branch out further, into stationary and greeting cards, as well as furniture design and – perhaps unexpectedly for Williamson – activewear. Fashion design may well be how he made his name, but after two decades, it seems it’s not only about the clothes anymore – the future of Matthew Williamson is lifestyle.

Embed from Getty Images

So yes, this is anything but the end. 20 years in, Williamson is still attuned to the changes around him, and he’s willing to take risks in order to keep pace with those changes. That is not slowing down – that is a sign of growth.

Grace Cain
Photo: Erol Birsen

Related Itemsfashionmatthew williamson

More in Fashion & Lifestyle

Five fashionable dresses perfect for days in the park

The editorial unit
Read More

Six fashion trends worth investing in this spring

Alexandra Davis
Read More

Seven spring home decor ideas to brighten up your space

Sophie Cook
Read More

Mother’s Day 2021: Gift guide

Rebekah Absalom
Read More

15 mistakes newlyweds always make

The editorial unit
Read More

Ways to support Heart Month this February

Rebekah Absalom
Read More

10 romantic dresses for your Valentine’s night in

Sophie Cook
Read More

Five London areas to go for a romantic walk this Valentine’s weekend

Lilly Subbotin
Read More

The best beauty launches to treat yourself to this Valentine’s Day

Alexandra Davis
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • London’s best pizzas for takeaway and delivery
    Food & Drinks
  • The Year Earth Changed
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Cruise – Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • SYML – Dim | EP review
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Birdy at Wilton’s Music Hall Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Ride or Die
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!
    ★★★★★
    netflix
  • Live from the Barbican: Moses Boyd
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Weezer with the LA Philharmonic and YOLA at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Secret Connection – Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Live from the Barbican: Moses Boyd
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Secret Connection – Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Cruise – Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Birdy at Wilton’s Music Hall Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Mare of Easttown
    ★★★★★
    sky
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Instagram: Best models for make-up inspiration
Raf Simons is leaving Dior