WMN* X FUTURE ARCHIVE
Anna Dewhirst and Wesley Manners unveiled exclusive work at WMN Events, curated by Elettra Giunta at Reference Point, 180 the Strand.
Photography Emily Almodovar - Edited by Shokirie Clarke
The evening began with a life drawing session guided by maja klimt, which seamlessly transitioned into a catwalk showcasing a blend of fashion and movement, choreographed and directed by Elettra herself, accompanied by an immersive soundscape from swim silky during London Fashion Week.
The night concluded with a social and lively vibes, thanks to the sounds of DJ Signorina.
DOP Shokirie Clarke & Adam Othman - Edited by Shokirie Clarke
After the presentation we spoke with Anna and Wesley about their work and the importance of movement in their designs, facilitated by Elettra.
Designs by Anna Dewhirst & Wesley Manners, Make-Up Blessing K
Elettra Hey Anna and Wesley, it’s been great to collaborate with you and get to know more about your work, but for those that don’t know can you tell us a little about your brands?
Anna Yeah, so a lot of my work is inspired by my past growing up in Scotland as a competitive swimmer, so I like to take the lines of sportswear and the body, make it form fitting, a bit sexy and create quite feminine but powerful pieces.
I feel like I'm most known for my Rainbow Loom pieces using rubber bands. I hand make everything and I would sum up my brand as sporty, sexy, cool.
Wesley I think honestly, everything I make is something I would wear myself. I make clothes for people who want to have fun, have a good time, feel sexy, be cute. You know!
Elettra I love that and can totally see it in your pieces. What is the inspiration behind the collection that you specifically made for tonight?
Anna Yes, so when you approached me for this opportunity and I knew that I would be working with dancers and movement, I was like, oh, my goodness, I've got to do something beautiful.
I wanted to make it look like water, like colorful water around the body if that makes sense. I wanted it to be very fluid with loads of movement that is accentuated by the garment. I didn't want it to feel like they were just dressed. I wanted them to feel at one with the pieces, so that was kind of the inspiration.
Cali Hollister, Hannah Hernandez & Artemis Stamouli in designs by Anna Dewhirst
In terms of the colours and everything, I was kind of bouncing off the back of my grad collection, which I showed in May. I worked with the official Rainbow Loom and they sent me so much amazing stuff to work with. I had those colours left over, and I wanted to really create something beautiful, and make movement the forefront of everything.
Wesley For this collection, I think I just wanted to have fun with what I was making. Usually I get a bit too stuck down in making patterns and like, trying to calculate everything. So for this, I just kind of just started making immediately, having a little drip on the machine and just went with intuition and made something that felt right.
Jacquelyn Tepper, Anastasia Widyadari & Hannah Joseph in designs by Wesley Manners
Elettra Amazing, I think we could totally see this in your pieces and they looked wonderful on the dancers. It felt so perfect seeing movement with them.
As your brand continues to grow do you see the role of dance and movement evolving with it?
Wesley Movement has always been quite integral to my work. Thinking back to my grad collection personally I don’t think it read super well just on the catwalk. But when I was doing the videos for it and we were dancing and moving, it just came to life and that's where the energy comes from in my work, I think.
Anna I mean, 100%. I take so much inspiration from sportswear and movement in the body. As, I mentioned earlier, i grew up as a swimmer and although It's not dancing, it's movement, Graceful movement within the water. So I definitely can picture dance and pieces like this to be a part of future collections and future presentations.
Elettra Giunta (middle) with Anna Dewhirst (Left) and Wesley Manners (Right)
Elettra How has the whole experience been for you?
Wesley It's been very rewarding. It's been a while since I've been in a situation like this where I’ve put myself out there and shown something new and I’m so grateful for it.
Anna I'm so thankful for you putting on the event, I literally cried. I took on this project at quite short notice, so it was very much like go, go, go. but when I looked to the dancers, the models, it was very easy to draw inspiration as I could instantly see my work on them.
Elettra It's been so beautiful to see our two different art forms coming together in such an organic and beautiful way. So thank you so much Anna and Wesley, it's been a pleasure to have you with us, and I absolutely love your work. I wish you all the best.
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