The House of Weardowney

Weardowney is the British fashion lable launched by designers Amy Wear and Gail Downey at London Fashion Week in February 2004.

Amy has been working as a fashion model since 1996; she began knitting at a young age, having been taught by her grandmother. Knitting has always been a hobby of hers, keeping her busy whilst waiting and travelling between jobs. Gail worked as a fashion model from 1979-83 developing her knitwear skills in between modelling work. Whilst working with a photographer, who shared a studio with John Galliano, Gail caught the designer's eye whilst wearing her own knitted creations. This led to him commissioning Gail to design a sample range for his label. Its success led to her working solely for Galliano, as his knitwear designer until 1989.

The House of Weardowney is set in the back streets of North Marylebone, within a stones throw of Alfie's antique market. The building was formerly known as the 'Old Exeter Arms'. Within the building is the boutique, Guesthouse, School of Handcraftsmanship and design haven.

The ready to wear collection is made in-house. Handmade by skilled knitters and their apprentices, exhibiting and passing on their skills in a time honoured tradition as a labour of love.

Each hand knitter brings their own unique character to the garment, they are not pressured by time, enabling them to sit and knit at their own leisure. Their enjoyment of making the garment is passed on to the wearer, for their enjoyment of wearing it.

Weardowney focuses on offering uniquely innovative yet accessible clothing. The designs are original in concept, versatile in wear-ability and produced in beautiful fabrics. They are always taking their designs forward: experimenting, developing yarns and new knitting techniques.

With the love, thought and time used to make each garment, the wearer knows they own something special, creating a sense of indulgence, a secret that will be appreciated each time it is worn.

Weardowney are now making their beautiful designs available to the hand knitter in the form of kits which you can find out more about in A Few of Our Favourite Things.

We will be featuring the House of Weardowney in more detail in coming issues.

To find out more about Weardowney go to www.weardowney.com