A trip to Jaipur and a dress that she had made there began to haunt the daydreams of House & Garden’s Creative Director, Gabby Deeming. So much so that she eventually took a three-month sabbatical from work and set off to India to found her own brand, Daydress. What does it do? Exactly that: beautiful, well-made dresses that can be worn every day, in strikingly pretty block-printed designs. We meet the designer just as her new collection arrives for the spring:
Where did the idea for Daydress come from?
It sort of ambushed me. A couple of years before I started Daydress, I had made myself a single dress sample whilst on a trip to Jaipur using a really lovely off-the-peg block print (of which in India there are thousands and all gorgeous). The cotton was so soft and the style was pretty but not girly. Although as a pattern the shirtwaister is nothing new, I liked how the Indian collar and hand-block print stopped it looking preppy – I just wanted to wear it everyday! It pretty much solved all my dressing dilemmas and most importantly didn’t feel like something I had seen on other people. I love vintage Laura Ashley and how the emphasis on the fabric and print and shape were all equal, their printed cottons have aged so well. Although my dresses aren’t particularly vintage in style, I like to think of them being worn summer after summer, and hopefully being much loved as Laura Ashley once was. Based on how much I loved this one massively over-worn sample, I then took three months off from my job as Creative Director at House & Garden and moved to Jaipur to set it all up!
Could you describe the journey of one of your dresses, from conception to completion?
First, I get a bit of a vision, often triggered from an antique textile or colour combination and I can see the dress in my head. Last year I designed some prints based on vintage plates I found at a brocante in the south of France. I design the print on paper with watercolours, I’ve also started using a drawing app on my ipad called Procreate which is totally brilliant, if a bit less romantic. With hand-block printing, each colour in the design requires a separate hand-carved block, so as you design a pattern you have to be very aware of these separations. I send the drawings to my guys in Jaipur and they carve the blocks, ready for my visit a couple of months later.
All the summer dresses are made and printed in the same light cotton. The winter dress fabric is hand-woven for me by a brilliant charity called Women Weave, who spin, dye and weave their cloth in fantastic patterns. The work has changed the lives of the women who produce the beautiful cloth. I spend a couple of weeks in Jaipur in late autumn, sampling the blocks and testing colours, trying out new dress shapes. We work on pattern placement with the tailors, and do a bit of troubleshooting. The dresses have come a long way since their first incarnation! This year I’m launching two new designs, the Zita and the Olympia, which are long and elegant with panelled skirts. I come home with some samples which I’ll mull over, then my final order arrives in Spring.
Your dresses are hand-block printed and stitched in Jaipur and your cloth is from WomenWeave in Maheshwar. What is it like to manage such an international production process?
WhatsApp helps enormously, I’m always messaging my guys with a picture of a button or an idea I’ve had. It’s the next best thing to being there in person. Other than that, because the team I work with is really small and because I keep the designs simple, the distance is not as tricky to manage as you might imagine. Having said that, I would like to be able to go to Jaipur more, it’s majorly inspiring.
Tell us 3 things that surprised you about India?
How quickly I settled in! In the very beginning I was nervous about what now seem like really silly things, like hailing an auto-rickshaw to get about town; I’d have to steel myself for a supermarket visit, but this soon wore off and I was probably too gung-ho in the end. I loved how beautifully the women dress, even villagers with little money have elegant jewellery and are draped in amazing coloured saris. The ludicrous driving. On the road to Agra I saw a whole family sitting on a 3-piece suite tied to the roof on a lorry and there is nothing unusual about a family of 5 on a motorbike.
How has your role as Creative Director at H&G informed your designs for Daydress?
H&G provided my education in pattern, textiles and colour. The exposure I’ve had over 15 years has completely informed the way I draw and think about my prints. I think it’s a nice angle to come at the dresses from. I’m very drawn to 18th century French textiles. Nicole Fabre has the most amazing collection and Susan Deliss has wonderful pieces too.
You launched with the just one shape – the Isla dress in a variety of prints. What’s new for spring 2019?
I’m so happy to be launching new shapes! The first is the Zita which I think will be really flattering. It has little puff shoulders and gathers under the bust with a full skirt made of 8 panels which fall very elegantly. The Olympia has a wide, open collar and is fitted on the waist with a long skirt, it feels a little Edwardian. They’re quite romantic shapes, and very English in feel.
Do you wear your own dresses?
Totally! I only make dresses that I want to wear.
How do you like to style them?
They look great with tan sandals or white pumps, I love Swedish clogs too and little velvet Venetian slippers in jewel colours. Because the dresses are lined, you don’t need a jacket or a dreaded cardigan (I think cardis are a summer dress mood-killer unless you’re very skilled at rocking the land-girl look). I love wearing mine with a square cut, cropped jumper – it’s a very particular thing that I have made for me because no one makes them short enough, but they’re perfect over the top of the dresses. Elegant as a shawl but minus the twee.
Could you share what you’re up to for London Craft Week?
From the 8th – 11th May I’ll be setting up shop with Molly Mahon, fellow block-printer and producer of very beautiful homewares. We’ll be at Myriad antiques on Clarendon Cross which is a complete treasure trove and they have a glorious garden room where we’ll be selling our wares. On Thursday 9th May, Emma Bridgewater is joining, me, Molly and Myriad’s Georgie Rowse for a talk on how India inspires and informs our work (you can buy tickets from the website here.)
What’s your vision for the brand?
Just to keep building the look, slowly and carefully. I want it to stay really identifiably Daydress. I do think a lot about other things I’d like to make and the patterns lend themselves to all sorts of applications – but at the moment I want to keep it simple. In a way it’s no bad thing that I have a full time job because it stops me getting carried away. I have a great new dress planned for winter that is a version of one that my grandma wore in the 70’s, I’d also like to make little jackets that could be worn with the dresses, the patterns would look so great layered together.
Where’s home?
An 18th century flat in Bloomsbury which I adore! I decorated it earlier this year and it’s actually in the May issue of House & Garden or there’s a video tour here.
Could you share your favourite neighbourhood haunts?
I pretty much do haunt La Fromagerie on the corner of my street, I’m always in there getting coffee, porridge, french toast, chicken pie… I blame my empty fridge on that place. Persephone Books is right next to me, a small publishers selling lesser known works by 20th century female writers, their collections of short stories are excellent. The frankness in tone of some of the women is wonderful, but their lives were so restricted, it makes me glad to be a woman of the 21st century. Ciao Bella is everyones favourite neighbourhood Italian, it’s packed out every night of the week.
What’s your favourite painting?
The painting is hard… But it has to be a Matisse, collectively his work gives me so much joy. I esp love Interior With An Etruscan Vase which he painted in 1940.
What’s the last book you read?
I finished ‘Crudo’ by Olivia Laing this morning, she wrote it in 7 weeks 2 Summers ago when it felt like the world was imploding. It’s excellent.
What’s your comforting Sunday night supper of choice?
I love a good spag bol (an Italian friend nearly threw up when she heard me call it this, now she says it too which I see as a small victory).
And finally, which woman would you love to see wearing a Day Dress the most?
Anyone creative and strong who appreciates the process of making by hand and the value of longevity. Women aged 17-70 have bought from me and they all look brilliant. I want Daydress to be very inclusive, which it seems to be doing well, so that’s good!
The Daydress spring collection launches this week – find them at the Hand Sale Wed 1 May 6-9pm, 2 May 10am-8pm and 3 May 10am at St Mary Abbott’s Centre, W8 4HN. They will be available online from Saturday 4 May at daydress.co.uk.
