Beautiful Soul launches a kimono inspired debut collection

Beautiful Soul combines luxurious silk kimono fabrics, structural silhouettes and origami detailing to stunning effect in its debut collection entitled ‘smallprint.’ Amiee Jones writes.

The autumn/winter collection is spun from vintage, silk kimonos dating back to the forties, as well as satin and jersey produced from sustainable bamboo. The combination of original japanese fabric with the highly constructive shapes they are cleverly draped into, echo the conceptual aesthetic of designers,  Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garcons  and Yoshi Yamamto. However, the richly coloured silks succeed in giving an sense of desirability to unconventional, asymmetrical shapes, and therefore render the designs highly original.

This new eco label has managed to amalgamate a rarely achieved couture look with a fresh and bespoke angle. Beautiful Soul’s founder, London College of Fashion graduate, Nicola Woods,  places emphasis on a feeling of exclusivity, saying, “Although the silhouettes featured within ‘smallprint’ can be reproduced, the fabric contained in each kimono is limited and this allows exclusivity to the wearer.”

The line is ethically and environmentally aware, working to a strict ‘zero waste’ policy that sources recycled materials in a responsible way. The label also provides training and working opportunities to less privileged communities, the current collection being produced by a registered women’s project in London.

Already garnering praise for its work, Beautiful Soul won the Ethical Fashion Forum’s Innovation award in february this year and was a finalist at the Fashioning the Future Summit last November. The next collection will be shown at London Fashion Week’s Estethica show later this month. And, after a debut like this to whet the palette, we can’t wait to see what’s next.

Beautiful Soul