Bristol based designer Sophie Spratley aka Rabbit aims to make clothes that appeal to one's inner child, with past collections she has explored brighter patterns and colours, cultivating a sensual and faerie-esque world. With latest collection Battle, the whimsy and ornate patterns remain, however, the colours are more muted, darker, as the name of the capsule would suggest.
One could imagine slaying a dragon, kissing a lover in a forest grove, or maybe just popping to Tesco's for some beers on the way to a picnic in the park in her garments. There's a unique versatility with Rabbit’s designs; both comfortable and avant garde Battle is a cottage core fantasy for the edgy and adventurous.
Battle embraces bodices and long dresses with tulle shoulders, some emblazoned with the insignia of a bat, others with that of a dagger, or a rabbit riding a snail, they are stately and elegant, whilst also being quite silly and aloof. With the focus of the pieces on both the finished product and the conceptual feel, the result is well made pieces ready for a plethora of activity. The dresses are paired with sweet little knitted bonnets, with pointy peaks, elfin in style, perfect for the slow slide from winter to spring, whilst other dresses are layered with cropped knit sweaters, a melding of Spratley’s talents in both sewing and knitting. There is a broad display of Spratley’s penchant for knitting, with elaborate dresses toting insignias of snails, weapons, and bats – a recurring and otherworldly motif for Spratley. Outside of dresses, there are corsets, small and large, and fun and flowy workwear style trousers and shorts, that once again embrace nature scenes and symbols.
It's a collection that casts quite a spell, one that serves to tie the wearer to the earth. Spratley herself is quite grounded in the natural, citing her rural upbringing where play was done in the garden, and her break from London seeking out nature through the release of an allotment in Marlow. The brand in turn reflects this connection, the labels on the clothes can be planted, embedded with seeds that will grow into bee friendly flowers. It's a nice touch, the thoughtful nature of Rabbit, ten percent of proceeds from purchases go to charity, makes it all the more enticing, it is in every way Spratley’s unique vision and execution. In a time when the unsustainability of large scale and fast paced fashion production is becoming ever discussed, brands like Rabbit serve to remind of the original lexicon of fashion: storytelling, adornment, craft.
An exciting display of creativity from a young designer, Spratley, who graduated from Kingston School of Art, is just 24, Battle is an exciting reflection of Rabbit’s ethos and hints at future direction. Unconventional and bewitching, the pieces are timeless and fun, a masterclass in creating wearable dreams.
Battle embraces bodices and long dresses with tulle shoulders, some emblazoned with the insignia of a bat, others with that of a dagger, or a rabbit riding a snail, they are stately and elegant, whilst also being quite silly and aloof. With the focus of the pieces on both the finished product and the conceptual feel, the result is well made pieces ready for a plethora of activity. The dresses are paired with sweet little knitted bonnets, with pointy peaks, elfin in style, perfect for the slow slide from winter to spring, whilst other dresses are layered with cropped knit sweaters, a melding of Spratley’s talents in both sewing and knitting. There is a broad display of Spratley’s penchant for knitting, with elaborate dresses toting insignias of snails, weapons, and bats – a recurring and otherworldly motif for Spratley. Outside of dresses, there are corsets, small and large, and fun and flowy workwear style trousers and shorts, that once again embrace nature scenes and symbols.
It's a collection that casts quite a spell, one that serves to tie the wearer to the earth. Spratley herself is quite grounded in the natural, citing her rural upbringing where play was done in the garden, and her break from London seeking out nature through the release of an allotment in Marlow. The brand in turn reflects this connection, the labels on the clothes can be planted, embedded with seeds that will grow into bee friendly flowers. It's a nice touch, the thoughtful nature of Rabbit, ten percent of proceeds from purchases go to charity, makes it all the more enticing, it is in every way Spratley’s unique vision and execution. In a time when the unsustainability of large scale and fast paced fashion production is becoming ever discussed, brands like Rabbit serve to remind of the original lexicon of fashion: storytelling, adornment, craft.
An exciting display of creativity from a young designer, Spratley, who graduated from Kingston School of Art, is just 24, Battle is an exciting reflection of Rabbit’s ethos and hints at future direction. Unconventional and bewitching, the pieces are timeless and fun, a masterclass in creating wearable dreams.
