Meet the Designer: Anna Foster
Founded by British stylist and creative director Anna Foster, E.L.V. DENIM strives to reduce overconsumption and waste in the fashion industry by creating luxury ready-to-wear from 100% upcycled materials. Short for East London Vintage, its collections are designed and produced within a five-mile radius of its atelier in the British capital. In this exciting collaboration, Foster and her team have transformed archived past-season garments from THE OUTNET into contemporary pieces. Each style is unique with a focus on quality and longevity. While choosing her favorites would be an impossible task, here Foster highlights three of the key pieces from the exclusive E.L.V. DENIM X THE OUTNET upcycled capsule (along with some expert styling advice)...
WHAT IS THE E.L.V. DENIM PHILOSOPHY?
“E.L.V. DENIM was designed to be a purely upcycling brand – the definition of upcycling is to take something that doesn’t really have a value in its current form but reworking it with real care and attention and making it into something that has more value. I believe garments should last a lifetime, and at E.L.V. DENIM we do everything we can to make sure that happens.”
DESCRIBE THE SYNERGY BETWEEN E.L.V. DENIM AND THE OUTNET?
“E.L.V. DENIM and THE OUTNET share the same ideology; they both want to give new life to garments that haven't been loved the first time around. THE OUTNET allows people to revisit and find designs at their own pace, and I love that; I love the idea that someone is finally going to be united with the piece they’ve always wanted.”
WHAT MAKES THIS COLLECTION SO UNIQUE AND SPECIAL?
“This collaboration is so special and I’m so proud of it because we’re now going into new categories, new fabrics. It’s showing that it’s not just denim that can be upcycled, and the fact that all these materials can be re-loved and reworked means that the possibilities are endless.”
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT 3 HERO PIECES IN THE COLLECTION AND HOW YOU’D STYLE THEM?
THE DOUBLE DRESS
“The dress was one of the simplest but most effective designs that we came up with. We often contrast colors together (it’s what we’re respected for and what we’re known for), but I wasn’t happy with just doing that. I wanted to actually give the item a second design, so that you can wear it in a quite easy style but also rework it with the black overlay and wear it according to your mood; you will find that this is reflected quite a few times across the collection. Though it may be one piece, it can be worn in many ways, and I think that’s really important.”
THE LEATHER GLADIATOR SKIRT
“The gladiator skirt started life as three pairs of leather stretch leggings and it’s probably one of the pieces we’ve worked on the most. We had to do an incredible mathematical calculation on how we would extract the strips, using the most and not giving any leather to waste – it required a lot of Excel spreadsheets. We’ve created the most flattering silhouette that uses so many parts of the original legging, including its design details because those were put there with care and attention and so should be respected in the final garment. I would probably style this with the cashmere co-ord from the capsule – it’s a little bustier top with a really cropped sweater that sits over it – and with really clompy boots or with a lovely black heeled boot.”
THE MONOCHROME JEAN
“The black and white jean is probably most recognized as one of our iconic designs; it’s based on our best-selling boyfriend, but we didn't want to just do the same for this collaboration. Just doing the same isn’t good enough for us, we always want to be pushing our boundaries and doing something better, so we’ve tweaked the style. We aren’t really able to get much white because sourcing white vintage denim is really hard, so it is a real pleasure to be able to work with it here. These jeans will pair really nicely with some of the other black and white pieces in this collection.”
