A Continuation of Sorrows From Before

This pre-collection serves as the foundation for Sorrows From Before, exploring early reflections on memory, emotional distance, intimacy, and connection. Rooted in my experience of growing up in the countryside, the collection reflects on the loneliness and isolation I surrounded myself with, while finding beauty and comfort in the natural environment around me. The pieces explore memory as something intangible—something that fades, blurs, and shifts over time—expressed through layers of fabric, draped forms, muted tones, and a balance between structure, softness, and fluidity.

The collection embraces a sense of abstraction and distance, where silhouettes feel suspended between moments of clarity and uncertainty. Natural materials become a way of preserving fragments of place and personal history, with wool, feathers, flowers, and found elements connecting the garments back to the landscape that inspired them.

This shoot brings together three looks that continue the themes established in Sorrows From Before. The skirt featured in this collection is a collaboration with Scottish artist Samantha Jackson. Samantha hand-painted and printed directly onto the fabric, creating a deeply personal and expressive piece. Treating painting as an autofictional dialogue, Samantha’s practice moves across painting, writing, drawing, and installation as a way of exploring intimacy and connection. For this piece, she created a relief print directly from plants before hand-painting onto the skirt, creating a unique conversation between the natural world and the garment.

The Guineafowl feathers used for the feather top were collected over the course of a year from a farm in Mayfield, East Sussex, where the birds naturally shed their feathers throughout the seasons. The feathers and flowers used across the hats were also collected from the village where I grew up in East Sussex, allowing each element of the collection to hold a connection to memory, landscape, and personal experience.

A Continuation of Sorrows From Before reflects on the relationship between isolation and belonging, exploring how memories of place can become fragmented yet remain deeply connected to the environments that shaped us.