Karen Millen celebrates the leather jacket in Selfridges
06/02/2014
The brand ran a successful made-to-measure pop-up in the store last year and has decided this time to focus on what it calls its “most iconic item”, the leather jacket.
Strictly by appointment, customers will be able to buy a personalised leather jacket at the pop-up store. There are three different jacket silhouettes to choose from, 12 leather colours, 15 linings and four metal trim finishes.
On announcing the idea, the brand’s chief creative officer, Gemma Metheringham, said: “The construction of our leather jacket is a fine art. Each jacket is designed in our studio and each piece – there can be up to 50 – is individually pattern cut and toiled in our atelier; it can take up to four versions to get it right. We source high-quality, supple leathers and work closely with tanneries in Italy.”
She explained that Karen Millen insists on drum-dyeing of the skins its uses for its leather jackets for even colour, with the finished leather hand-cut using a small scalpel for “the utmost precision”. Once each piece is cut, the jacket is then assembled by machinists and trimmed with hand-polished zips sourced from Switzerland.
Ms Metheringham went on to say that a leather jacket is “one of the most wearable items you can add to your wardrobe”, describing them as “investment pieces”. She said she constantly revisits her own leather jackets regardless of the season. “My favourite styles include two black leather bombers, our signature biker jacket coloured in both a muted pastel pink and black, and our punk-inspired gilet from autumn-winter 2012-2013,” she added.
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