Tove (Q9373)
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Tove is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Tove |
Tove is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
In February last year, Camille Perry and Holly Wright realized their considered vision for Tove, the label they founded in 2019, on the runway. Tove had already cultivated a loyal audience, who were magnetized by their elegant, yet slightly undone, proposition for womenswear––representative of a certain London spirit captured perfectly with their approach to silhouettes.After a catwalk hiatus for fall––they instead showed via a look book––Tove was back on the schedule at London Fashion Week, returning to Senate House, where they made their debut. “It was about starting afresh,” said Wright of the early stages of the design process. “We looked at what felt new and exciting, what felt right at the time.” Perry added: “It was very much about building out the [the Tove woman’s] world: what do we feel like she needs? What are we not offering her?”At a preview, as the designers stood beside the lineup board and rails of the spring collection, surrounded by an all-female team in the studio, they talked about their “female gaze” and how it informs every decision they make. “There’s a lot of confidence that comes with that,” said Wright. Perry pulled out an intentionally creased, but still somewhat crisp shirt with silver buttons: “We always say the Tove woman should feel elevated; be the envy of women in the room.”Conversation moved on to a Tipp-Ex white, coated-linen trench coat––which, at the show, was styled with tapered white trousers and a pair of their new mules––then a fishnet top covered in hand-sewn crystals. It was followed by super-fine, gauzy mesh long-sleeve tops, and a vanilla draped dress made from the same chiffon. On the subject of dresses (a Tove specialty), there were plenty of new-season options: two sultry black styles, one sheer on the top and one made from thin Italian jersey (flourished with the type of mini train that is actually feasible to wear to an event); a generous crinkled-linen style with a deep-cut, V neckline; and a sage silk maxi, to name but a few. Plays on print and texture, elements Perry and Wright push further with each collection, took form as tie-dye denim, stripes on tailoring, a criss-cross pattern on matching separates and a dress, and a fuzzy chiffon that looked feathered.Shoes made a well-received entrance for spring. Pointed-toe mules constructed from elasticated strands and supple leather lace-up sandals were fitting complements for the easy ready-to-wear.
After a collaboration with fellow London talent Completedworks, Tove now counts own-brand jewelry in its offering––large ribbon earrings that are surprisingly lightweight, cuffs and sculptural pendants––in addition to slouchy totes with metal beads on ties at the edges.Terms like minimalism and quiet luxury would be too broad for Tove’s style manifesto. “It all comes from a really personal place,” said Perry. And you can tell.
15 September 2024
Amid the swirl of the Paris men’s, couture, and jewelry presentations, Tove quietly slipped into the French capital, bringing with it an oasis of calm—which is exactly how a burgeoning base considers the London-based brand founded five years ago by two Topshop alums, Holly Wright and Camille Perry. No matter their vocation, the brand’s fans have one thing in common: getting dressed for “the juggle.”Where other labels might chase trends, Tove opts for palate-cleansing, minimalist staples that play up color, texture, and versatility. The brand doesn’t even term its outings “collections,” preferring instead the wardrobe-building connotation of “installments.”“We’re not one of those scary, standoffish brands; we always think of ourselves as friendly,” Perry offered. “We’re always looking at what our version of sexy is, what volumes and colors and gathers and drapes make us feel good. If it works for us, it will also suit all kinds of different women.”A case in point was a bustier dress in crinkled burnished gold silk, paired here with babouche flats produced in Portugal and recently launched on Net-a-Porter (come spring, those will return in ponyskin). A silk and linen jacquard coat with a café au lait zebra motif was designed to dress down with denim or up for the evening. Well-cut staples came in timeless black or next season’s gourmet palette of caramel, cinnamon, and burgundy. New this season were cashmere knits (for example, a cream-colored top with an integrated scarf). A jacket in eggshell bouclé tweed, a roomy black leather jacket cinched with a belt, and a long single-breasted black coat looked like keepers too.
1 July 2024
Sometimes a dress silhouette becomes so pervasive you almost don’t notice its dominance. Right now, slinky, liquid maxi dresses that sheath the body while simultaneously leaving little to the imagination are having a moment. And a large proportion of them, at least judging by my social feeds, are exemplars by Tove.Co-founders Camille Perry and Holly Wright have seen serious success with the subtly sensual Italian viscose-jersey and silk designs that prowled down their spring runway in London last year. So, they decided to own it for fall. “We do well with these kinds of styles because they are still very covered and refined, but there’s an element of sexiness, too,” said Wright. One of the standout designs in their latest collection was a gold silk maxi dress with a scarf-neck detail and cut-outs on the arms; equally alluring was a viscose-jersey ruched style with an integrated caped back (it’s giving Dune press tour).That they had to be viewed on a rack in a parquet-floored Paris showroom rather than on a London catwalk didn’t diminish their impact. Pragmatism dictates Tove business decisions and designs: both women, industry veterans who met while working for Topshop, talk constantly about pieces being “useful” just as much as “beautiful.” They admitted they had agonized over skipping the fall runway, but ultimately they allocated show funds towards a campaign shoot to bolster a new focus on digital marketing, as well as develop shoes with a Portuguese supplier.The latter—comprising a chic, easy loafer, a pointed mule and a heeled ’90s-style ankle boot in sophisticated shades of olive, burgundy and chestnut—will certainly aid the designers’ desire to attain “that extra level of refinement and polish.” They’re aiming for the ultra-considered sleekness that has made The Row’s shoes so coveted, but without the four-figure price tag. To hear the duo obsess over the just-so almond toe of a flat loafer, the optimal supple leather for a boot that’s not too precious to wear every day—well, they’ve done their homework.Outerwear is another Tove strength, and an eggplant-hued trench looked assertive, while a black patchwork blanket coat offered a touch of idiosyncrasy, alongside double-faced wool styles. Meanwhile there were office-friendly suits, their sharp proportions following fashion’s shift towards more fitted styles after years of oversized shapes, and a new hero jacket, the textured-wool Uma. “We know we’ll live in that, said Perry.
“Perfect with jeans, perfect for a meeting, perfect for evening with smart black trousers. It will effortlessly pull everything together.” The same could be said for pretty much everything on the racks.
4 March 2024
London’s Hayward Gallery, a hulking Brutalist landmark on the South Bank, is rarely available as a fashion show venue. But it fortuitously freed up between exhibitions for Tove, one of London’s most compelling nascent labels, which utilized its rough, exposed concrete walls as a backdrop for a streamlined take on femininity.There’s lots of talk in London this week about the purpose of runway shows, which remain prohibitively expensive for many. Why not host a lo-fi party instead, or seed some product, or channel your efforts into inciting a TikTok trend? But while acknowledging the myriad challenges independent labels face today, designers Holly Wright and Camille Perry were determined to build on the momentum they ignited last season with their debut show. The biggest draw of a catwalk presentation for them was that magic word: storytelling.“Last season was the first time we’d been able to really set the collection in our world,” said Perry at a preview, “and the magnitude of it was amazing, in terms of wholesale, brand awareness, and our direct-to-consumer sales. Definitely our European business has had a massive uplift off the back of it.” Wright added: “Our aesthetic is so different from everything in London. We really stand out because of that.”They’ve got a point. There are only a handful of designers in London making low-key luxury clothes with a cool-girl twist that sing from the same aesthetic hymn sheet as The Row but don’t require the auctioning off of a kidney to afford them. (The imminent arrival of Phoebe Philo’s highly anticipated label won’t change that.) In the four years since it launched, Tove has built up a repertoire of dresses that quietly dazzle; generous, floor-sweeping coats that lend shruggable elegance to any outfit; and jeans that fit like the perfect washed-out 501s you snagged from a vintage store in a far-flung European city. For spring, the designers added shoes and jewelry to their repertoire, with a pair of flat ballet pumps with a high vamp in Italian leather, babouche slippers in mottled leather made in Portugal, and a pair of minimalist dental-floss sandals. “We wanted a shoe that was beautiful but not precious—you can wear it anywhere and with anything,” said Perry.Wearability continues to define their offering, but for spring they also honed in on tactility, redrawing their signatures in fabrics that gave you a reason to buy, ahem, yet another trench coat.
(But didn’t it look effortless and airy, falling off a shoulder, in lightweight linen-silk taupe?) Equally desirable were the dry-jersey and silk bias-cut dresses, some backless save for a single spaghetti strap, and a chinoiserie-inspired tunic paired with a column skirt. It was fun to see the designers get a little frivolous: Lest a white silk maxiskirt with an ostrich-feather underlayer feel a little too try-hard, it was offset with a sloppy, loose-weave sweater. Same goes for lace, that formerly prim staple that’s fast becoming one of spring’s favorite themes, made mellow thanks to its pairing with sharply tailored black trousers. “We don’t want anyone to feel too ‘done,’” said Wright in conclusion. For confirmation of the vibe, see actor Laura Harrier, who was snapped drinking Champagne and eating french fries in the label’s Lana skintight jersey shirtdress last week. Laid-back London polish has rarely looked so good.
17 September 2023
Both Holly Wright and Camille Perry were wearing Tove for their day of appointments. Wright had on a soft white maxi dress that draped from blouse-like shoulders; Perry paired a tunic top that featured their twisting across the chest with fluid black trousers, slightly cropped. It was easy to imagine how they have filled their wardrobes with pieces from their label, each day selecting a different look. It was also easy to imagine them heading out to dinner, adding little else.“For us, we’ve never seen this brand as having limitations, really. We see it as a real global brand,” said Perry, who handles the business aspect. “There’s a timelessness that transcends seasons, it transcends trends. It’s very much about a brand that will be here in 10 years and that’s what we’re building towards.”Since launching Tove in 2019, the London-based duo has been steadily building a brand that checks many desirable boxes: attractive, streamlined designs; high quality fabrics and an exacting approach to production; a feminine sensibility that extends from how the clothes feel to their usefulness. With this resort collection, they have demonstrated once again that they can find fresh ways to deliver familiarity. The wrap coat that opens the lookbook, for instance, comprises an ivory openwork linen bonded to black wool—an effect that is both visually interesting and textural. Shying away from prints until now, they created a flattering dress that expands and contracts within the geometric pattern and is further enhanced by their skillful drape.Not visible in these photos is how Wright, who handles the design, develops the backs of garments with definition and details that are worth a double-take, such as a subtle tack at the waistline of a coat or gathering to define the silhouette. They have introduced “smart denim” to the mix, which simply refers to the appearance rather than any technological gimmick. This gets to a fundamental aspect of Tove: an effortless style that is trick free. “It’s really considered,” explained Wright, with Perry adding (one usually picks up where the other trails off), “We don’t have a huge team, so everything is done with real intention.”When the model emerged in a jersey dress (made from FSC-certified viscose) featuring a polo collar and plunging neckline, they said it answered the question, “What’s sexy for the Tove woman.” Certainly, it made a more overtly seductive impression.
Yet from seeing the softly tailored total look in warm white or any of the draped merino pieces, you get the sense that there is an inherent sexiness to the brand, if only because women will feel so good, so naturally confident, dressed in these clothes.
30 June 2023
London Fashion Week has rightly garnered a reputation for emerging talent that expresses itself in raw and revolutionary ways. But there’s a quieter fashion force at work in the city that places emphasis on polished eveningwear, beautifully constructed outerwear and sleek accessories—and which has a loyal and diverse customer base to boot. (Think Roksanda Ilincic and Emilia Wickstead, and you’re on the right track.)Tove, which made its runway debut for fall 2023 in the alabaster-clad confines of Senate House, falls firmly in the second camp. Established in 2019 by designer Holly Wright and buyer Camille Perry, who met while working at Topshop back in the day when it pretty much defined London style, the label has built up a loyal coterie of customers and international stockists in an impressively compressed, Covid-dominated timeframe. Its devotees are the kind of women who wear shoes from The Row, jeans from Toteme, and knitwear from Uniqlo: they like minimalism, but with a hint of ingenuity, and at a price point that doesn’t cut too deep. They keep coming back to Tove for dresses that neatly tread the line between classic and cool, for coats with wide lapels that have a movie-star-off-duty appeal, for cute blouses and bodysuits that work under office tailoring and with denim for date night.A catwalk show wasn’t going to change that. “We wanted to put clothes on the runway that you are actually going to wear,” confirmed Wright, characteristically relaxed in a preview 24 hours before the show. Nevertheless: “We thought it would be nice to show the breadth of the brand. We’re so well-known for dresses and separates but actually outerwear is an amazing part of our business now,” said Perry, her counterpart who directs the business (while her sister, Alice, mans the spreadsheets). (Thank you, Katie Holmes, seen out and about in January in a Tove leather coat that’s now sold out.)You could see the mental shopping lists being totted up as the audience snapped photos of the elegant looks that glided down the Senate House steps, grounded with black Charvet slippers. Silk-jersey, a brand staple, was put to work caressing the body in a series of long-sleeved, ankle-grazing fluid dresses in buttermilk and burgundy. The leather pieces were handled with a deft hand, with highlights including a sleeveless maxi dress with a knotted waist detail and a safari-jacket and pencil skirt combo.
The designers like to refer to their work as “seasonless,” and a gathered organic silk corset top paired with simple black trousers ticked the timeless box.
19 February 2023