Couture | Helen Anthony by Naeem Anthony
Every so often you stumble upon someone so special, someone so talented, someone who takes your breath away. Soon as I discovered him I had to share him. Naeem Anthony of the faahion house Helen Anthony is special. The cuts, the tailoring, the impeccable finish. Today we get to speak to him to find out more about him and his work.
1.Your brand is so beautiful. Tell us about its name?
Helen was my Great Grandmothers name and Anthony is mine, I dedicate this brand to keep her name alive. I have a 4 year old beautiful daughter and her name is Helen-Mary Anthony, Mary is my mum’s name so you can see how much family means to me.
2. Your work is very special. How did you get into design and couture?
Fashion, design, art, and creativity is in my DNA. I started designing clothes for myself at a very young age and I learned pattern cutting and hand knitting from my great Grandmother and my mother. I was able to develop these skills over time and honed my tailoring skills, whilst benefiting from the mentoring of my great Grandmother who was called Helen Thomas. I have sought to recognize her contribution to the Helen Anthony brand and its success by dedicating the brand to her.
3. You have an ability to draw inspiration from past eras and make it seem brand new. How do you do this.
I am inspired by the spiritual (Churches, Temples and Mosques) and historical buildings around us. I used to go church with Helen Thomas every Sunday, the church altar and building inspires me so much, I like to bring these elements into my collection. In a sense it’s a bit of a mix of bringing East into the West. I use Western silhouette with bright and bold colours from India and Africa, representing fashion in a collaborative and global format. At the end of the day we are all human, and we are equal regardless of our race and background, I came from South Asia, so I love bright and bold colours and embroidery which can be seen in my collections. I try to combine my loves as much as possible when it comes to design.
4. In your clothes you balance the form and function so brilliantly, how do you do this, and is it intentional?
Well, my background is tailoring from Savile Row London in Mayfair and I love to experiment using my tailoring skills. I truly believe that by experimenting you will come to a masterpiece. I like to look at all of my designs as art pieces. I showcase in this collection an artistic, creative and full structure tailored silhouette but I have also included some softer pieces. Past collections of mine are much more commercial however at this time in the world I think we all need a bit of joy and this line brings me and my clients a lot of this.
5. Who is the Helen Anthony woman?
She is anyone who truly loves fashion, I never design for a specific body shape, style or aesthetic. For sure she is not a sheep and doesn’t follow the crowd, but she loves tailoring, colour, and the clothes don’t wear her, I guess she has a loud personality!
6. Who would you love to see in your garments
Helen Anthony’s pieces are statement pieces and standout in the crowd, I love to see people wearing Helen Anthony’s designs who have a strong and dominant personality.
7. Your clothing is so beautifully rendered that would you call it ready to wear or couture?
We do both, ready to wear and couture, this collection is 100% couture though.
8. What inspired the current collection?
The current womenswear collection was inspired by my daughter, I see a strong and powerful woman in her future, I looked for to create fabrics and silhouettes which hadn’t been put together before and decided to go for it. I believe that this is the future of fashion for female voices looking to make a difference to our world.
9. What do you see for your fashion house?
I am working on making my brand a globally recognised brand, I have been fortunate to dress a number of influential names, Ed Sheeran was one of them, Munroe Burgdorf was another. We are incredibly picky as to who we dress, they have to be good of soul with great intentions and I believe that aligning ourselves with good people will put us on the path to success.
10. Your clothes are so beautiful. What would you like people to know about it?
Helen Anthony continuously strives to innovate and bring you the most cutting edge fashions and designs. This is what we are known for and we combine it with the finest tailoring and cloths to produce a high-end product that will adapt to the body and make you stand proud from the crowd. What make us different is that we design Helen Anthony’s exclusive fabrics in the UK, so we really are one of a kind.
How beautuful is Helen Thomas? I would want to pass these precious garments to my children and they their kids. His background of tailoring at Saville Row shows because the garment are perfectly tailored. Kudos to Naeem Anthony and his line dedicated to his Great Grandmother. Visit him online here. His is beautiful couture. Kind thanks to Naeem Anthony and Pop Pr for the great answers and for granting this interview.