BEHIND THE SCENES OF CREATING MY ELEMENTAL COLLECTION WITH NEEDLE & THREAD

I’ve always loved Needle & Thread, the British brand’s intricately detailed embroidered and embellished pieces, which are special to look at, wear and own. I’ve worn the brand many a time over the past few years, so when the opportunity came to collaborate (and collaborate on a more responsibly sourced collection), I jumped at the chance. Many of you know that my background is in design and fashion: I studied design at university in both Kingston and Leeds Met, and worked as a fashion model for 15 years! Being able to apply my creativity to clothes in a studio was a dream come true. I always love to know the process behind the designs of the pieces I wear or purchase if I can, so I’m sharing the behind the scenes of the Jasmine Hemsley x Needle & Thread Elemental collection, so you too can know the processes we went through!

November 2018

In November 2018, Needle & Thread first contacted me about working together on a collection. I’d met Hannah Coffin, Needle & Thread’s founder, several years prior so we’d already spoken many times about our love of India and shared vision for a more transparent and ethical future for the fashion industry. We began conversations about what we’d each want in the collection, timings and what could be possible for this collaboration. It’s Needle & Thread’s first collab collection and my first foray into actually designing pieces (apart from the doll’s outfits I made as a child!) so for both of us it had to be 100 percent right.

Wearing designs from Needle & Thread’s previous collections

March 2019

After the Christmas break, and a couple of months of discussions, we outlined a proposition and timeline for an October 2019 launch. We had a kick-off meeting with the full teams involved to get started. We decided very early on that the collection was to be inspired by my passion for Ayurveda as well as incorporating a few personal touches. We’d stay true to Needle & Thread expertise in signature embroidery and embellishments — the real journey would be in bringing their existing designs into the sustainable arena in terms of the materials used. The brand already has a long-standing partnership with their supply chain in India, managed closely by the Needle & Thread head office in India.

April 2019

In the month of April, Needle & Thread and I exchanged many inspirational images of detailing, colour, shapes which would eventually come together to create the collection. I knew I wanted a colourful collection and I’m a magpie for anything that shines, so it wasn’t hard to gather sources of inspiration. I was also keen to incorporate the zodiac and stars into some of the designs as well as nature as a whole.

With Needle & Thread founder Hannah Coffin

May 2019

In May we met again, to sit down and go through proposed shapes and styles based on what Needle & Thread knew I already liked. We also started discussing fabrics and what would and wouldn’t be possible. The brand had already sourced a recycled tulle (tulle being the key fabrication of almost their entire collection) but had never used it in any of their styles before, so the Elemental collection was to be the guinea pig for future collections!

We finalised our moodboards and set a date of our next meeting when we’d first be able to see the fabric samples created based on our mood board in India and start applying these to the shapes we’d decided on.

August 2019

When we met in August to see the textile swatches, it was an opportunity to really start to see the collection brought to life. Some of the designs we’d come up with hadn’t worked and lots had worked better than we could have hoped for! We went through many (!) textile swatches, immediately discounted some, created a shortlist of our favourites and then started applying these to the shapes. We already had some idea of what fabrics would work for different shapes, e.g. the Rainbow Sequin Chakra Dress was always going to look like it does, but on other designs it was a case of mixing and matching.

It was in this meeting that we came up against our first big hurdle: sequins! We’d discussed from the outset that we needed to do everything we could to make sure that everything was as responsibly sourced as possible — despite thorough research, the team were unable to find a recycled sequin produced in India. They’d only been able to locate a source in China. So… we were left with the question: what’s more sustainable? Purchasing recycled from China, and shipping to India, or using the non-recycled but local source? After much debate, we decided to push the collection back from an October launch to March 2020, so we had enough time to do more research and see what could be done.

Not long after the meeting, Needle & Thread got in touch to let us know they’d done the impossible: they’d sourced recycled sequins in India! By partnering with their supply chain, Needle & Thread were able to pioneer the production of recycled sequins made out of recycled waste plastic (instead of virgin plastic). The sequins used in the collection are made from self-generated waste plastic and laminated with an iridescent plastic coating material that has been diverted from landfill and brought into the factory.

September 2019

In September, it was time to finally see the collection in person and actually get to try some things on — as with the fabric samples, some pieces just didn’t work and so we were able to immediately remove them from our rail, however the majority were incredible and everything I could have dreamed off. We were soon able to finalise the collection into 23 pieces including dresses, skirts, tops and two cover-up jackets.

Needle & Thread then brought in fit models to ensure the collection hung, draped and fitted perfectly and also made a few tweaks to ensure the embellishments and embroidery sat in the right places.

December 2019

The collection was shot in an East London studio using brands including some of my favourites, Inika Organic. It was such a fun afternoon and my first opportunity to see the full collection in its final form!

February 2020

The collection had its first real-life outing at my 40th birthday party when I wore the Rainbow Chakra Gown — read more about that here.

March 2020

And that brings us to March, and the collection’s official launch. It’s been such a fun project to work on and I hope you love the pieces as much as I do!

We are proud that the collections supports Women for Women International, by making a donation to help women survivors of war rebuild their lives. The donation is enough to help 200 women learn tailoring as part of the charity’s year-long training programme.

You can shop the full collection on Needle & Thread and please send and tag me in any pictures of you wearing the pieces @jasminehemsley

Jasmine HemsleyMarch 12, 2020