The first thing that strikes you when you read about the inspirations behind Kirsten Ley’s extraordinary fashion designs? They’re pretty … dark. Her design-school grad show, Unbearable Lightness of Being, examined her experiences wearing a back brace through her teens. Fantôme, her SS 2018 collection, is based around “the undying fight to feel the growing vastness of lonely ineptitude.” And her upcoming FW range, Nerō, is named for the emperor who murdered his mother and fiddled while Rome burned.
So it’s a surprise to meet in person and find her effervescent, energetic and fizzing with ideas. In her words: “I always say that I think I’m a balanced person because I’m an artist and able to work through emotions and feelings through creativity.” The Vancouver-born 30-year-old only got into fashion design a few years ago, graduating from Blanche MacDonald in 2016 with a “student of the decade” title from the school’s executive program director. Prior to that, Ley spent time in Los Angeles as an actress, model and composer. She also teaches yoga and paints.
“The more creative outlets I have the more I want to create,” she says. “When I’m working on a collection, on days off I’ll write music and work on a painting.”
Her mom is an opera singer and teacher from New Orleans and her dad is a Danish entrepreneur. According to Ley, “I guess it’s that left- and right-brain thing. I always thought I was just a creative weirdo but now that I’ve started my business, that Scandinavian, practical businessperson side is coming through.”
When she started at Blanche MacDonald, she admits, “I had never sewn a day in my life, but I worked my butt off.” And then there’s her innate artistic talent. “The way I work is intuitive. When I’m creating with a material, whether it’s leather, organza or silk, I breathe it and move it where it wants to go. I kind of live within the piece, like I’m inside it as it’s created.”
The left-side right-side combo is certainly paying off. The pieces Ley designs for her eponymous label are remarkable: minimalist but bold, sculptural and strong, avant-garde. Not pretty, but beautiful.
“I like to make garments that complement the female form,” she says. “They nip at the waist, are shapely and flowing. I like to make women feel strong.”
Her work has not just been an artistic success. Critical plaudits have been plentiful. Fantôme was shown last September at Vancouver Fashion Week—the organizers of which also run the Global Fashion Collective (GFC), a program to give up-and-coming designers an international platform. Soon, Ley was in Tokyo for Amazon Fashion Week, at Eco Fashion Week Australia (she’s a sustainable, ethical designer) and Harbin Fashion Week in China. Her pieces were also featured in Vogue China, U.K. and Italy. The pinnacle thus far has been presenting her Nerō FW 2018 collection at New York Fashion Week, with the support of GFC. Eventually, she’d like to be in department stores and even standalone Kirsten Ley boutiques.
And, she says, her other talents will continue to play a part, too. Ley has written music for her runway shows and created a movie for Fantôme, in collaboration with Vancouver production company Goldstein.
“Fashion is where all my creative outlets meet,” she says. “I want fully immersive shows, with music and film. I’m obsessed with Alexander McQueen and the way he was able to have his shows as performance-art pieces.”
As to whether Vancouver is going to be big or bold enough for Ley, she thinks our rep for being too relaxed in dressing is wearing off, and that Vancouverites are becoming more stylish. She’s full of praise for our local players, from big brands like Aritzia to fellow designers like Evan Clayton, Sam Stringer and Melissa Yin. And she has no intention of leaving.
“I’ve been extremely impulsive all my life, and I’ve done all I wanted to do—I let my heart take me wherever it wanted to go, and I can draw on my experiences and use them as an influence,” she says. “Now I enjoy being in the same city as my family. For selling, I have to expand beyond this market but I’d like to keepthings as local as possible otherwise. I want to be known as a Vancouver designer and a Vancouver brand and pay homage to my city. I’ve been everywhere, but I came back because I want to be here.” —Aileen Lalor
Photos by Arun Nevander
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