Designer Bella Fr eud has made an indelible mark on the world of fashion. Fr om Biba and Jaeger to her eponymous label, her trajectory has been an upward one.

The effortless beauty of 48 year-old Bella Freud pervades her work. Daughter of artist Lucian, and granddaughter of psychoanalyst Sigmund, Bella has a heritage of pre-eminence. It isn’t her heritage but her talent and daring spirit that’s placed her in the upper echelons of the fashion industry.

Unfailingly daring in her approach to her work, from the aesthetic that she calls her own – ‘Edwardian elegance with punk rebelliousness’ – she always goes that extra mile. One would expect this fearlessness to be connected to her creative background and her father, however this is not entirely the case. “Even though I didn’t grow up with him, I think it helped growing up having a creative father. I always found it helpful when I used to sit for my dad and see him working through something and persevere. I remember very early on I thought I could just sit down and everything would flow very easily. I don’t find however that drawing comes easily to me. But after seeing him continue to do something until it worked, I did the same”.

Indeed, this perseverance is what saw her enter the realm of fashion as opposed to pursuing her first love of music. Both industries tend to be fickle mistresses but it was her love of the transformative element of fashion that saw her rise through the years. From working with Vivienne Westwood in the 1980s to consulting Jaeger and being brought in to revamp the classic 1960s brand Biba in May 2006. All of which was enjoyable and lead to her being able to work with her own small but perfectly formed eponymous collections. “I’ve done a fair bit in my time working with Jaeger and doing BIBA, that was great. So now I’m doing my own collection.” She continues: “It was nice to have to slow down and I had to look at books and think, cut things out and stick things all over my body. I love that process; the process of actually creating something. You make it with your hands and although I don’t actually knit the jumper, I put it together. That I love. It’s like being a cook; you take it and mix it all together and add your signature and it comes out the other end somehow”.

It’s her work both with the clothes themselves and their presentation that resonates in her coherent and holistic creative vigor. Shying away from catwalk shows, she instead uses projects to showcase her collections, making them available via net-a-porter and selected boutiques. Her aesthetics entail the projected photographs of her pieces with Elle Muliarchyk that capture a haunted, Brothers Grimm-esque beauty while retaining the emphasis on the elegance of Bella’s creations. The projected shots act as a parallel to the small size of her collection: “It was partly because having a really small collection is projecting in a way. Projecting something almost bigger than it is. Sometimes things happen by their limitations and it’s all quite stimulating how it comes out; with less resources you become more resourceful”.

Although the old norm of collections being expected to be of a certain number of pieces with a pre-defined number of color schemes is no more, it takes an explorer to step into the unknown and try something new.

We look forward to what she produces next. What is certain is that her upcoming
collection FASHION will be something to behold.


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Features Miranda July Vs S/S10 RANKIN - SAGA MAGAZINE '09 Bella Freud - Saga Magazine '09 ROMAIN GAVRAS - Vs MAGAZINE A/W09 Ulrich Seidl - Vs MAGAZINE A/W09 Sebastien Tellier - Vs Magazine A/W08 'Speakieasies Go Legit...Kinda' - DRINK MAGAZINE '08 Chris Cunningham - Vs Magazine A/W08 Sebastien Tellier - Electronic Beats. Autumn '08 David Shrigley LCD Soundsystem Bang Gang Simian Mobile Disco Justin Robertson Ed Banger (Busy P) Columns Reviews	Designer Bella Fr eud has made an indelible mark on the world of fashion. Fr om Biba and Jaeger to her eponymous label, her trajectory has been an upward one. The effortless beauty of 48 year-old Bella Freud pervades her work. Daughter of artist Lucian, and granddaughter of psychoanalyst Sigmund, Bella has a heritage of pre-eminence. It isn’t her heritage but her talent and daring spirit that’s placed her in the upper echelons of the fashion industry. Unfailingly daring in her approach to her work, from the aesthetic that she calls her own – ‘Edwardian elegance with punk rebelliousness’ – she always goes that extra mile. One would expect this fearlessness to be connected to her creative background and her father, however this is not entirely the case. “Even though I didn’t grow up with him, I think it helped growing up having a creative father. I always found it helpful when I used to sit for my dad and see him working through something and persevere. I remember very early on I thought I could just sit down and everything would flow very easily. I don’t find however that drawing comes easily to me. But after seeing him continue to do something until it worked, I did the same”. Indeed, this perseverance is what saw her enter the realm of fashion as opposed to pursuing her first love of music. Both industries tend to be fickle mistresses but it was her love of the transformative element of fashion that saw her rise through the years. From working with Vivienne Westwood in the 1980s to consulting Jaeger and being brought in to revamp the classic 1960s brand Biba in May 2006. All of which was enjoyable and lead to her being able to work with her own small but perfectly formed eponymous collections. “I’ve done a fair bit in my time working with Jaeger and doing BIBA, that was great. So now I’m doing my own collection.” She continues: “It was nice to have to slow down and I had to look at books and think, cut things out and stick things all over my body. I love that process; the process of actually creating something. You make it with your hands and although I don’t actually knit the jumper, I put it together. That I love. It’s like being a cook; you take it and mix it all together and add your signature and it comes out the other end somehow”. It’s her work both with the clothes themselves and their presentation that resonates in her coherent and holistic creative vigor. Shying away from catwalk shows, she instead uses projects to showcase her collections, making them available via net-a-porter and selected boutiques. Her aesthetics entail the projected photographs of her pieces with Elle Muliarchyk that capture a haunted, Brothers Grimm-esque beauty while retaining the emphasis on the elegance of Bella’s creations. The projected shots act as a parallel to the small size of her collection: “It was partly because having a really small collection is projecting in a way. Projecting something almost bigger than it is. Sometimes things happen by their limitations and it’s all quite stimulating how it comes out; with less resources you become more resourceful”. Although the old norm of collections being expected to be of a certain number of pieces with a pre-defined number of color schemes is no more, it takes an explorer to step into the unknown and try something new. We look forward to what she produces next. What is certain is that her upcoming collection FASHION will be something to behold.