I’m too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt, so sexy it hurts.
Click images to enlarge.
In the same year Australian-born Louise Markey graduated from Central Saint Martins with a Masters in Fashion Design, she made her catwalk debut with LF Markey, was awarded runner-up at the Fashion Fringe Festival and launched her covetable women’s shirt line. The designer has remained consistently busy and successful ever since! Having decided that designing her own women’s line, as well as working for city slicker shirt brand Pink, wasn’t quite hectic enough, in 2012 she set about launching her menswear line with Fashion East.
i-D online collared up to Miss Markey to chat shirt styles, boys clothes and camera collections, while Piczo photographed her latest men’s collection on Elite’s long-haired lovelies, Duncan and Eloizia.
How did you get into design? Was it always an interest? I became interested in fashion design at a pretty young age when I started making clothes for myself and my friends. I only took it seriously as a career after toying with the idea of fine art and architecture. Fashion seemed like a much more exciting option.
We love the ‘Great shirt wearers of our time’ feature on your blog, who’s the crème de la crème of this category? Tough one- I’d have to go with Katharine Hepburn. She was a brilliantly no-nonsense woman and a highly accomplished Wearer Of Shirts.
Where do you think your love for the androgynous and tailored look on women comes from? It’s how I dress and feel most comfortable. I’ve been wearing boys clothes since I was 18 and much prefer shopping in menswear stores.
Do you have a muse? I think I tend to design for myself and for a few specific friends who have a similar dress sense. My clothes have to be practical in the real world.
What’s your studio like? It’s a lovely neat space in an old converted building just off London Fields, a stone’s throw from my house.
You’re an avid collector, what’s your most treasured item? I have an array of old cameras and my current obsession is a large format Bronica which I’ve been failing to take particularly good photos with.
What shirt from your collection would be the coolest in Summer London? It’s definitely the oversized men’s painted herringbone print. I’m making a mini sized one for myself.
Describe a typical day in the life of you? I’m not what you’d call a creature of habit so my days and weeks change all the time. If it’s a studio day, I generally rise early and start the day with a coffee at E5 Bakehouse. From that point on it’s pure mania and mayhem until dinner time. In between my work I do a lot of travelling and working on other projects. It all gets a bit much sometimes so lately I’ve taken to escaping London on the weekends.
What are your plans for the weekend? I’ll be staying in London this weekend and shooting my Spring Summer 2013 look book!
Text: Alice Louise Wadsworth
Photography: Piczo
Styling: Justine Josephs
Hair: Roku Roppongi @Saint Luke artists using bumble and bumble
Make Up: Philippe Miletto
Models: Duncan Pyke and Eloizia Melo @ Elite Model Management
All Shirts From LF Markey. Denim model’s own.
