Designer Anya Hindmarch: "I think fashion can be achingly serious"

British designer Anya Hindmarch, known for her sustainably minded line of luxury handbags and accessories, landed in Dublin's Brown Thomas yesterday afternoon to launch her exclusive pop-up collection.

Renowned for combining exceptional craftsmanship with a distinctive branding, labelling, and pop culture iconography, the range reimagines the everyday as luxury items.

Arguably her most eye-catching pieces, her range of Anya Brands – sequinned handbags and artful accessories covered in logos from the likes of After Eights and Cadburys – are sure to be a hit with Irish fashion fans.

"I think it's the idea of making the everyday really extraordinary," the designer explains. "There's a nice nostalgia that brings out a smile... I think fashion can be achingly serious and cool, and I think, actually, it's quite cool not to care."

"These are conversational pieces where you can just have a bit of fun and look really cool - it's that little bit of irreverence that is actually quite nice."

Reflecting on which brands most appeal to her, the designer says that she tries to find the logos that will "strike a chord" with people.

"You have a gut reaction to it. Yes, it's about the colours, and we like to work with some of the older logos, but actually it's just things that mean something to me and sort of pack a punch when you pair them with quite a serious, beautiful handbag."

"It's the Yin and Yang of a really beautiful piece messed up with something a little fun."

If In Doubt Wash Your Hair, a personal development book written in 2021, details Hindmarch's busy life of entrepreneurship, relationships, motherhood, step-motherhood, and her deep admiration for lists.

She loves a list. And a label. So much so that she created the Labels collection - a range of witty organisational accessories designed to bring a sense of humour and order to daily life.

With labelled pouches, baby bags, travel essentials and quirky organisers, the collection captures Hindmarch’s knack for putting the fun in functionality.

"When you feel out of control, that sense of getting back into control back through organisation is quite powerful. My life is crazy busy - I travel, I run a business, I have five kids - and I think that it's a luxury, being in control."

"Everything has a label so that it can tell you what to do," she continues. "It's predominantly for travel and packing and organising your life when you're in the office or on the move. People really love it; it gives that sense of 'you've got it' - even if you haven't."

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Mindful of her impact of the planet, Hindmarch has long used her platform to discuss the importance of sustainability. In 2007, she created the I Am Not A Plastic Bag collection as part of a collaborative project with Antidote and global social change movement, We Are What We Do (now known as Shift).

After thousands of people queued to purchase the tote from Sainsburys in the UK (80,000 on launch day), the project sparked a conversation around the every day use of plastic bags.

Now she has the I Am A Plastic Bag collection, with each piece made from a cotton canvas-feel fabric that's created from 32 half litre recycled plastic bottles and recycled windscreens. Each piece is designed to never be thrown away.

"It's trying to make beautiful things out of things that are destined for landfill," she says. "To keep them out of landfill and to keep them in circulation and it doesn't have to be achingly boring, you can do fun things. There's a thread of sustainability - and I would reframe that to responsibility - through everything we do."

"There's nothing luxurious about something that's doing harm," she adds.

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The theme of being socially conscious runs throughout Hindmarch's brand, not only through sustainably practices, but her efforts to create a village for her followers. Literally.

The Anya Village on Pont Street in London is a small area of stores along with the Anya Café and the Village Hall – an ever evolving concept store at the heart of the parade of shops.

"It takes a village," she smiles. "There's something very lovely about, in a way, being inclusive as a brand. I think that sometimes fashion can be quite exclusive and quite alienating and can make people feel bad. I think fashion should make people feel good."