Represent debuts womenswear line, dedicated team assembled

British luxury label Represent has unveiled its first-ever, fully-realised womenswear line, a stand-alone edit that it says was “informed by but not indebted to the men’s collections”. To drive forward this division, under the title ‘Represent Woman’, the company has assembled a new womenswear team, headed by designer Toni Purdie.

Set to officially launch February 12, Represent Woman comes as a response to the increasingly large female fan base the brand has amassed since it initially launched into menswear in 2014. Its founders, George and Mike Heaton, said the “plan was always to create a dedicated collection” for women built on the brand’s existing DNA, yet the team never wanted to do this in a “lacklustre way”.

As such, the womenswear debut, which has been two years in the making and is dubbed ‘Overdrive’, takes the codes Represent has established for menswear and brings them into “a new, contemporary prism to give the Represent woman her own identity”. This woman thus “compliments that of her counterpart rather than becoming a carbon-copy”, updating the brand’s roots in casual sportswear in a “more subtle way”.

Purdie, who had previously worked with Topshop, puts forth over 30 foundational pieces for both day and night wear, with much of the collection “made in Britain using British-sourced fabrics”. Among the garments are that of a slouchy hoodie, racer-back vests, cut-out bodies, barrel-legged jeans and a spaghetti-strapped slip dress, made from 100 percent silk and featuring a staple print intended to subtly nod to the roots of Represent.

On the new line, Purdie, who holds half of the creative control with the brand’s founders sharing the rest, said: “From joining the business as the sole womenswear team member armed with sketches and brimming with countless ideas, this journey has been two years in the making. Today, we are proud to have built a team of eight exceptionally talented women, each of whom has worked tirelessly to bring the Represent woman to life. It is with great excitement that we now launch the collection, a true testament to our collective dedication and hard work."

Alongside being featured in dedicated spaces in Represent’s LA and Manchester flagship stores, the brand will also be hosting an exclusive pop-up in Selfridges for the womenswear line from its date of launch.