Laura Taylor and Ryan Holliday-Stevens met on a dance floor, and it wasn’t long before they began whipping up looks and dressing the coolest kids in town. In 2013, they officially launched their brand, Solace London, and its minimalist-meets-futuristic aesthetic has made it a must-have for shoppers and retailers around the globe. No wonder they’re making their debut at NYFW.
What brings you to these shores?
Ryan: New York is a natural fit for us—aesthetically, and in terms of the women who wear the product.
Laura: We ship a lot of product to New York, but it really resonates on a global scale as well. It’s ballsy
to show in an international place for the first time,
but we’re looking forward to it.
Do you eventually want to open a storefront here?
Ryan: Yeah, definitely, but not just in New York. We both envision a very big retail footprint globally in places like London, New York, and Paris.
Laura: We started out in retail, and we still enjoy the experience of going into stores and being immersed in the brand experience.
Ryan: We’re thinking about doing pop-ups to test different markets. We really want to use the store to test the waters with new product. Our e-commerce channel has taken off, but some items, like pants and jeans, are so much easier to sell in a store.
How did you initially team up?
Ryan: We had been aware of each other at the time, but we were more like frenemies. Then one night almost 12 years ago, we ran into each other on the dance floor at a bar and we really hit it off. From that point on, we became pretty much inseparable.
What were you doing before you launched Solace London?
Ryan: When we first met, Laura was managing a really cool specialty store. It’s not around anymore, but it had a reputation for breaking new designers.
At the time, I was selling my own brand there and Laura was managing the shop.
Laura: This was during the time when you really couldn’t buy things internationally online, so we started making things that I wanted to get my hands on, but couldn’t. At the time, this shop was in Leeds near the [University of Leeds], and there was a massive nightlife scene. In the North of England, people really love getting dressed for a night out. The store gave us a real understanding of how our clients felt and how they shopped. We get really gushy, wonderful emails from our customers telling us about how they felt in our clothing, and the fact that they feel good in our pieces has created real brand loyalty.
What’s the aesthetic of Solace London?
Ryan: It changes naturally as we evolve as designers, but it’s always about being clean, minimal, refined, modern, and statement-making. It’s in your face, but not trying too hard.
How do you keep the price points relatively low?
Ryan: There used to be a bigger gap between the big fashion and couture houses and contemporary brands, but now a lot of us are offering high design without ripping people off. Something doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars to be luxurious. We develop everything in-house and we work with the most luxurious fabrics.
Laura: Technique drives most of our design process.
Which retailer was the first to champion the brand?
Ryan: Selfridges. They’re a really progressive retailer—they carry all of the major brands,
but they’re also great about spotting new
and emerging talent. Very quickly after that,
Net-a-Porter picked us up.
How do you navigate the evolving retail environment?
Ryan: We’ve always been quite disruptive, so we roll with it. Digital technology and online retailing has redefined how we shop, and even though it creates tons of problems and curve balls, it’s an exciting time. Things needed to change! The fashion industry is actually quite old-fashioned. The retail calendar has been driven by retailers, not by consumers—they just want to see new things and to be able to buy them. We don’t agree that you have to do things a certain way—if you can do them quicker and better, just do it!
What can we expect from Spring ’18?
Laura: We’re introducing a 12-piece collection of swimwear. We’ll integrate it into the ready-to-wear line, pairing the suits with skirts and trousers. We’ve also designed our first jewelry collection, and we’re working on shoes as well.
Who inspires you outside of fashion?
Laura: Molly Gunn, who runs a site called Selfish Mother. In a nutshell, she built her brand and her business around saying that as a mother, it’s okay to just wing it.
Ryan: I’m inspired by modern art and music.
Laura and I are massively into electronic music and we still travel the world going to festivals, concerts, gigs, and nightclubs.
Laura: It’s essential to our friendship that we have time out of the office to have fun. We’ve just been
to Glastonbury.
Ryan: It was amazing—it didn’t rain this year!
What’s the vibe like at your studio when you’re designing?
Ryan: [Laughs] People think we’re insane, but we play super loud, crazy music. But only when we’re designing—not when we’re working on things like the cash flow! You can get bogged down in business tasks, so you have to trick your mind into thinking you’re semi-fun again.
What has been most rewarding about launching your own business?
Ryan: I get to work with my best friend. Fashion
is really tough, but it’s so much easier when you
can laugh.
Laura: We bounce ideas off of one another and
we give each other clarity.
