LFW: Bethany Williams x The Magpie Project

Bethany Williams is one of the few designers at the interchange of sustainability and philanthropy, where fashion and social enterprise are equal pillars of her business.

This season Williams continued her work with The Magpie Project, an East London grassroots organisation that supports women and children under five who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Kicking-off London Fashion Week, Williams was inspired by the stories the Magpie families would tell during their creative workshops. These centered on five main storylines: “AOS”, “Blessing”, “Dinosaurs” and “The Girl Who Cried Tiger”, as well as Bethany’s own, “The Sun and The Wind” childhood story.

The result is a collection of beautiful knitwear, smock dresses and tailoring in swathes of bright hues. The silhouettes were inspired by the V&A Museum of Childhood garment archive, which sees Williams explore tailoring with a suit inspired by a historical children’s skeleton suit from the 1800’s. The skeleton suit was the first children’s garment designed for play. The collection also features two corsets created with Welsh designer Rosie Evans using offcuts from the collection production. In these corsets, Rosie has replaced traditional boning with a material made out of fruit packaging waste.

 “What we noticed through the story-telling workshops, was that the moral in each story always came back to kindness, care, and respect for one another and how these traits, whilst important in childhood, have just as much meaning in adult life,” said Bethany Williams

Working closely with Jane Williams, the founder of the Magpie Project, Bethany Williams will continue the theme of the collection in a commitment to running creative workshops with the Magpie Projectcommunity that will capture, share and amplify their myriad stories. It is the collective’s belief that disseminating these stories empowers and encourages community togetherness and voice at many levels.