In the throes of lockdown, the photographer Ronan Mckenzie put down her camera and started to make clothes without really knowing how. What started as ‘something fun to do’ has evolved into a small line of made-to-order pieces presented under the name ‘Selasi’, meaning ‘God hears me’ in Ewe, a language spoken in Ghana. ‘The only reason I decided to give it a name was to make space for it in my mind,’ says Mckenzie. ‘I struggle to have downtime and relax, so I thought that turning it into an ongoing project would make me dedicate more time to actually doing it.’
Mckenzie is a consummate multi-hyphenate: a photographer-director-curator-designer-artist. Towards the end of 2019, looking for a new outlet beyond commercial photography, she opened Home – a multifunctional creative hub encompassing a gallery, an events programme, a library and communal workspace in north London. ‘I needed something wholesome and community focused. I want to open myself up to creative pursuits in a way that doesn’t take away from any one of them,’ she says.
Selasi is defined by its softly sculptured heft. Mckenzie begins by drawing on A4 paper, guessing shapes and then cutting them in fabric before amending designs on her own body, tweaking in the mirror. The front of a trouser might be different to the back. One leg might be longer than the other. Cloth is slashed and hems always left unfinished. The clothes look homespun because they are.
There are no plans for the label to be wholesaled, but a private launch of a full collection is due later this year. This will include a small run of knitwear made in collaboration with Khanh Brice Nguyen and shoes with Ugo Paulon. ‘It’s still me working things out – most of the time I’m so excited, I don’t want to spend time hemming!’ She says: ‘I’ve become more attentive about what clothes mean to me in this last year. I’ve been thinking so much more about what we put on our skin, what wraps us and holds us. How fabrics feel against our bodies. What we wear is directly related to what we feel. Clothes literally touch us, hug us.’
RELATED STORY
INFORMATION
-
Formafantasma’s biodiversity-boosting installation in a Perrier Jouët vineyard is cross-pollination at its bestFormafantasma and Perrier Jouët unveil the first project in their ‘Cohabitare’ initiative, ‘not only a work of art but also a contribution to the ecosystem’
-
Gingerbread City: architects sculpt London out of the season's favourite treatUntil December 29 in Chelsea, see London brought to life in a seasonal-appropriate medium by leading architects and designers
-
New Revox B77 MK III reel-to-reel tape recorder, and more cassette tape-based trickeryThe new Revox B77 MK III might be the ultimate analogue flex. In response, we’ve explored the outer reaches of cassette tape design
-
Men’s coats for winter just got colourfulTake this season's colour-popping style onto the streets, with men's coats for winter by Prada, Dunhill, Salvatore Ferragamo and Louis Vuitton
-
Creatives 4 Systemic Change and APOC Store launch raffle to tackle racism and discriminationOnline collective Creatives 4 Systemic Change and Independent online retailer APOC Store come together for a fundraiser benefiting the Asian and Black Trans communities
-
Two American fashion brands on championing timeless dressingNew York brands Peter Do and Marina Moscone on what is driving their businesses today and tomorrow
-
‘At home or in the office, I want to wear beautiful things again and again’Introducing The Meaning Well, a London-based slow fashion label specialising in luxurious everyday silhouettes
-
Para Moda launches DIY knitting kits -
Shen looks to the future of post-pandemic beauty retailThe Brooklyn boutique offers a new Covid-friendly beauty shopping experience
-
How fashion is adapting to a digitised virtual futureThe show must go on! As New York Fashion Week 's innovative digital platform RUNWAY360 launches, we take a look at the luxury industry's virtual progressions
-
A.P.C opens on Dover Street, London
