Elena Dawson
Elena Dawson lives and works in her East Sussex studio. Before launching her own line, she worked closely with Paul Harnden to establish Paul Harnden Clothiers. Like Harnden, she works with only a handful of retailers, and her designs are driven by cloth, rather than sketches.
She began working as a seamstress shortly after university, which turned out to be an invaluable experience. “I draw on the knowledge I learned at the tailors still now in the way I make clothing—when you work on alterations you are really tearing the guts out of the garment, performing a sort of autopsy—you really get to see a garment at its most vulnerable point. Observing this state of semi deconstruction in the making of a garment or shoe is what I like to retain in my finished work."
All pieces are handmade in the UK.