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I never tire of telling you about Britain’s great crop of design talent, and Nigerian born Jennifer Hibbert is among the inspiring up and coming fashion designers. In Spring 2010 Jennifer launched her eponymous shop in Caterham, Surrey. The fashion world is taking great interest in her elegant hand-crafted designs, in particular her iconic bespoke handbags. It’s not long before the designer will be a household name as word spreads about her stylish label.
Here, I interview the designer about her life and work in a bid to learn more about the brains behind the brand.
RS: I really enjoyed reading the story on your website about how you got into designing, I think it’s a really inspiring story. Did you ever think that you’d end up following in your mother’s (dressmaking) footsteps?
JH: Noooo! It’s funny because while she was doing that I appreciated what she was doing but it was never anything I thought I would end up doing myself, you know? So I just thought “I’m going to do something new, I’m going to be a lawyer.” In the end I find out that there are just things that you can’t avoid, they’re just there and that’s where you’re going.
RS: Like fate almost?
JH: Yes, definitely.
RS: Did you ever help her when you were younger? Handing her buttons or things like that?
JH: Yes I did! But I did it because it was an obligation, not because of any other reason! I wasn’t doing it because I wanted to learn what she was doing! For me it was just her thing and it’s funny because now as my kids are growing up and I do my designing and everything, they like it but they just look at me and think, that’s just what she’s doing!
RS: It’s just another job?
JH: Yeah it is, exactly.
RS: Family is certainly important to you, you seem to juggle a lot! A young family, your law degree and now your own business; how do you manage it all?
JH: Aahh… I don’t know what to say really! I think somebody up there is looking out for me. I was at the law school and my husband was still in Nigeria because that’s where we met, he stayed there and I came back with the kids. They were young kids: 6 and 4, when we came back. I had two of them and I had to go to law school- sometimes I’d be in a class and they’d call me, come and pick up your kids! Even sometimes I cried because it was just so hard.
RS: It must have been.
JH: Well at the end of the day I passed, I did well in law school. I have to say with this designing and everything, the kids do complain sometimes. I do try- I dedicate one day fully to them at least once a week, to spend time with my kids and do the things that they want to do. Then I can use the rest of my time for designing, and all sort of things because you’ve got to fit in family life, you know?
RS: Of course and it must keep you grounded as well, it’s the kind of industry where you can get swept up in it all…
JH: Yeah- I just like it that on a Saturday I can take my kids out and we go shopping, they love going to buy things in New Look, they look around and that’s nice- they enjoy it and we have lunch or things like that. They love it! I try to do that, even though I have other things to do, sometimes they just have to wait. You have to look out for your family.
RS: It’s great that you’ve got that sense of perspective. So what inspires your work? Do you seek out ideas or do they come to you?
JH: Actually some of them just come to me, some of the things I see people wear and how people feel when they wear certain things. It gives me the inspiration to think. I used to buy a lot of clothes myself before, the sort of person who likes wearing nice clothes. Most of my handbags which I buy which are designer handbags I find that most of them are very heavy when you put things in- even one or two things- they are unbearable to carry. So that’s one of the things that motivates me. I think when I do bags I try to tan the leather very well, make it dried properly so that it’s not too heavy to work with. So that’s one of the things I had in mind, attention to detail. It’s very important for people to really feel good when they’re wearing your designs.
I’ve just made a television ad for the brand and the model we used asked to wear one of my sample dresses to a wedding in Paris, she called me and said she felt like she was a princess; everybody else wore something “nice” but everyone came up to her and said “you look beautiful.” That’s what motivates me, I want to be able to make clothes that when people wear them they feel really special. Comfort is also very important, when you’re wearing clothes you want to wear something that is very comfortable and at the same time stylish.
RS: So how would you sum up the Jennifer Hibbert brand?
JH: I would sum it up as very elegant design, as you’ve seen in our look book, and most of my styles as well are from the olden days, like in the 40s and 50s. I look at the way women wear clothes with leather, when I design I try to bring a little bit of beauty from the past into the clothes. Like the flowy dresses that women wore in those days, I see a lot of beauty in it and when I design I like to get in touch with those sort of looks and bring in modern day style fused with this elegance as well as comfort.
In those days they wore those girdles that weren’t comfortable, but now with modern technology you can create these beautiful styles without being uncomfortable.
RS: Where would you like to take the brand?
JH: I have a lot of dreams for this brand you know, I’m looking for the brand to be known all over the world, and then second of all I’d like it to be stocked in good shops, places like Harrods and on the Champs Elysee in Paris; so that women who like beautiful things can access it easily and enjoy the brand.
RS: A lot of people just talk about clothes the designers make, but I’m interested too in how designers dress themselves. How would you describe your own style?
JH: Umm… well I would say I’m a good dresser, I love dressing up a lot. When I started this brand, I loved the street where I lived. People who around the area came to the shop weren’t expecting anything less than what they saw me wearing. The shop is me. I love dressing up, it comes across in my designs, even the mannequins in the shop, how they’re put together- it comes across. We like the windows to look really elegant.
RS: I see- it’s like the brand and yourself are one and the same, which I think is how it should be.
JH: Definitely!
RS: So who are your favourite designers yourself?
JH: I like people like Michael Kors, Gucci and Marc Jacobs as well. I like a little bit of Jimmy Choo, but sometimes it’s a bit too shiny for my liking. Though I do like shininess it’s sometimes just a bit too much.
RS: Did you see any of LFW?
JH: I saw the pictures on the internet, I couldn’t go as it just happens that this period I have so much done- inventories, and as the shop is fairly new I have to take stock of all the items I have in the store room and shop. So we’ve been counting and re-counting. Next time I will try to go! I went last time to London and Paris Fashion Weeks, which were lovely.
RS: Of the shows you did see pictures of, what was your favourite?
JH: I mostly look at the bags and shoes. I like Bouba- I love the use of the jewels in the bags, they incorporate a lot of them which I like. Also London designer Austique, I think it is good but they are simple- for me it’s too simple. For me it’s great but in my mind I would spice it up a little, it’s a bit ordinary and bland.
RS: I guess that’s your own style then! Do you pay attention to trends in the media or do you do your own thing?
JH: Well obviously you have to, you can’t ignore what everyone else is doing. You have to do what people like and look at where they’re taking things, there’s no point marching to your own tune and just wandering off, though it is good to be unique. Yes you look at what they’re doing but then you go back inside yourself and find your own uniqueness.
RS: I love your bespoke designs. Do you find fashion is something innately personal? Should trends happen or should fashion be more about expressing an individual?
JH: I think about expressing an individual. Lots of people do think alike though. Don’t get me wrong, most people in the world are open to the trial of different thing, but as people are individuals, if I design for certain people, someone else could design for them and create something totally different. Everyone can’t design the same things, it just wouldn’t work. When I was opening the shop in the area I was, most people said that women in the area liked frumpy clothes and said I should design like that to impress them. Butt that’s not me- if I did that I wouldn’t think it was good! What sort of person would do that? I like flamboyance and quirkiness. I want to look at it and it’s all there. I said to myself I should do what I like and somehow there will be people like me that like these things. That’s why I focus on a certain type of design, things I like to do and then hope that other people will appreciate my art.
RS: Clearly that’s been successful! You were talking before about moments in fashion history, what’s your favourite fashion decade?
JH: Well I would say fifties is great, if you look back to things that happened then, you see them coming back again- the midi skirts, platforms, all sorts of things. But having said that, it’s all modernized properly, the way I would like them. I still prefer now because now you can see the edge in fashion. Things are done with so much passion it’s amazing what they can come up with. You look back at the olden days- they’re nice in their own way but today people spend so much time and passion in the things that they do that it’s difficult to express it. People really spend time and make things really nice.
RS: You’re right it’s almost like art, isn’t it.
JH: Yes! I totally agree, fashion in the fifties was great but I’m glad I’m living now.
RS: There’s so much more freedom as well.
JH: Definitely.
RS: If you had to choose between buying a new bag or new shoes, what would you choose?
JH: Well first of all I would go for my own brand!
RS: Fair enough!
JH: But then if I had to exclude mine and think of someone else… I think I would go for a Gucci bag, I like them. If not Gucci then Louis Vuitton.
RS: I do love your structured clutch bags.
JH: I don’t know if you saw the fabrics, it’s a woven leather- we cut it in pieces and weave it in this way. When I chose that style and took it to the maker they said “no we can’t do that, noone has done that before- it won’t work” but I said “Well just try, this is what I want and we can see.” So they did and it was fantastic! We were all happy with the finished piece.
RS: Seems like you were really determined! So when you first think of an idea and start putting designs on paper, how long does it take from then to a finished product?
JH: Well now a shorter period compared to at the start. Before it would take about 2 years! Well because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do I did casual and I didn’t commit to certain ideas, they were just on paper. Then I decided to go for it.
Now it takes with the production line, for a garment at least 3 weeks. We have to make the pattern right then make the dress itself. That’s for it done properly, the way we would do it.
RS: I’m sure it’s getting faster all the time!
JH: Yeah it’s getting faster, obviously when you have done patterns before you can modify basic patterns into new styles. It gets easier and better! It’s a lot of experience, you learn so much when you do it.
RS: Does your Nigerian heritage influence your work?
JH: You know it didn’t! The only part that was inspired was the woven clutch bag. I did that bag because I remember when we were small kids, making cane baskets. I loved it and when I looked back I remembered that. To treat the leather in that way was from my childhood, we used palm fronds to make a hand held fan. That was what inspired the bags!
I just remember that when we were small, that’s just how we played- we weren’t born with toys in those days, we played with material things like trees and leaves. Normally we got a palm frond, shaped it like a fan and wove it. Then you used it to fan yourself!
I hope that Jennifer’s unique designs will keep getting noticed. Her heritage and influences are intriguing and the designer herself is an inspiring figure.
Pics courtesy of Jennifer Hibbert