the wellington college year book 2010/2011
the wellington college year book 2010/2011
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l i ly & a l b e r t
k at h ry n m c c o r m i c k [ a p 2 0 0 2 – 2 0 0 4 ]
I used to joke with my dad
over what he wore and I feel
really guilty about that now
because a lot of what we’ve done
has been inspired by him.
He was in the Army.
He was also atWellington
as was my grandfather
and his brother —
everyone went toWellington !
But some things stick and to be fair
to the CCF we’ve even had putties
in the show. It’s interesting
that I used to hate them
with such a passion
but I still know how
to tie them.
five years of that really sank in and the English
military heritage is an incredible thing from a
fashion point of view. I mean, everyone’s done
it, Balmain’s done it. And it was very natural
for us to do that. Wellington’s definitely had a
strong influence on the brand.
We never would have worn suits if it wasn’t
for chapel on Sundays. I would never have
had my dad’s hand-me-down tailor made
suit — and seen how amazingly well it was
made in 1956 or something. In a funny way
what’s important from a Saville Row tailoring
point of view seeped into our subconscious.
But also it meant that we could easily reference
all this British militaria for inspiration.
j: It’s interesting looking at your Fall collection,
you have the tartan prints, and Wellington girls
now wear those as uniform !
m: That’s interesting. The regimental
stripe, we’ve done that; the coat of arms. It’s
English. You’re exposed to it from the day
you were born. The changing of the guards,
the Royal wedding, the Royal family. The us
doesn’t have any of that, so it’s exciting and
new to them.
j: Do you have plans to bring r & b to England?
d: Definitely, we just need to figure out
where it’s going to be.
All our stores are in different pockets in
ny, the environments are very different.
Nolita’s very different to Soho, which is very
different to West Village. So where do we
do it in London ? Do we do it in Chelsea, the
West End ?
j: I think the location of the store says a lot
about the brand, if you don’t know the brand. It
tells you a bit about it.
d: So where would you put a r & b store ?
m: Crowthorne. Lower Crow.
d: Perfect.
y experience at Wellington
College left me with selfconfidence and the feeling
that anything was possible if
you worked hard. I cannot
remember ever being told that an idea was
‘unrealistic’ or ‘too challenging’ (for my final
a level piece I danced on a canvas ‘Jackson
Pollock’ style !). We were encouraged to
trust our instincts and prove that our theories
could work. This environment inspired me
to focus on my talents and grab hold of the
opportunities at hand.
In September 2009, I launched the online
knitwear company ‘Lily & Albert’. The idea
for the unisex brand developed after I saw
fishermen’s wives knitting cardigans for their
husbands on a beach in Portugal. Captivated
by the expertise involved in this age-old
tradition and struck by the quality produced,
I bought my first fisherman’s cardigan from
these artisans. At university it became my
most borrowed item, which solidified my
belief that there was a market for this original
craftsmanship in modern fashion. So, armed
with savings from my gap year work and a
loan from my parents to buy some stock, I
set up a photo shoot, learnt how to create an
e-commerce site and launched the online shop.
Since then Lily & Albert has gone from
strength to strength. We have been featured
in magazines such as Tatler and on the
bbc, worked with Green lifestyle organization
Global Cool and Radio One dj Gemma
Cairney, as well as opening the Fuze fashion
show in 2009 and 2010 alongside Jack Wills
and Reiss.
I often revisit Wellington and in fact one of
our recent Lily and Albert photo shoots took
place in the ccf Armoury. The photographer
was Hannah McCabe [Ap 2003–2005]. So as
you can see seven years on the Wellington
support network continues !