The best of British fashion: TOAST

Q&A with independent fashion brand, TOAST.

Tell us about TOAST and the inspiration behind the brand?

TOAST began with loungewear and nightwear, designed in a farmhouse in Wales. The collections reflected a sense of ease and a slower, more thoughtful way of life. Today, TOAST creates and curates simple, functional, beautiful clothing and homeware. At the heart of TOAST is our commitment to supporting and sustaining traditional textile techniques and craftsmanship. We collaborate with artisans from around the world to create original fabrics and handmade pieces. Our design team create timeless pieces in modern, easy silhouettes and quality fabrics to ensure they last.

What can we expect to see from TOAST for AW21?

This season we look to the natural world, seeking our own inner connection and response to the wild that surrounds us. Rewilding embraces a natural state of equilibrium, one that’s alive and full of dynamism. The push and pull of nature - the balance of delicate and powerful, old and new, masculine and feminine is expressed through the bold, rounded silhouettes, exaggerated cable-knit sweaters and giant checks contrasting with delicate hand embroidery, voluminous balloon sleeves and light stripes. Delicate gills of a frill collar bring to mind forest floor mushrooms offset with rumpled cotton and the heftiness of ribbed wool and raw indigo denim. 

Rewilding is explored via folkloric tales with hefty wools, bright floral scarves, rustic neppy yarns and soft utility aprons. Colours of lichen, mushroom, and pale stone are balanced with vivid crimson, grass green and cornflower blue. Clean organic shapes in corduroy and wool reminiscent of artist Valentine Schlegel’s work ground the collection with modern silhouettes.

“A starting point in the design was in response to the lack of control we have all been experiencing with recent events and being drawn to rethink our relationship with our environment,” explains Head of Design, Laura Shippey. “This season, we celebrate the dynamic, unpredictable and wild. We were really inspired by the heavy weaves and hand craft techniques of Romanian folk clothing, where there is a combination of practicality and individual expression through pattern and piecing.”