Last year we had the privilege of getting to know Kristyna Toms while she interned with us. Kristyna studied a BA in Fashion Design and Business Studies at Brighton University and during her sandwich year we were lucky enough to have her help us in our store and design studio.

Due to the summer lockdown, Kristyna’s final collection was not able to be fully appreciated, so we thought it would be interesting to share images and an interview with you. We hope you will find this inspiring. 

Tell us about your yourself and your studies?

Before finishing college in Czech Republic, I found that fashion design and sewing was my passion. I had always liked the idea of living in the UK, my college in Prague was under British curriculum so I thought it would make acclimatising into the culture easier and I have always been attracted to British fashion brands. I applied to study in the UK and ended up going to the University of Brighton –  their course programme was very hands on but at the same time teaches the business side of fashion, which is really useful for young designers.  

I am proud to say that during my studies I developed some strong design and technical skills, my endless patience proved to be a good plus when I found out I wanted to specialise in tailoring and let details dominate my creations. 

I enjoyed my time at university, but I mainly appreciated being exposed to industry during my internship year. I believe this really shaped me as a person and a designer, working with Dashing Tweeds was the most valuable experience from that whole year! 

Tell us about your collection?

The collection named ‘Eastern Bloc’ is an exploration of the Czechoslovak culture when it was under the Communist regime in the late 1970s – all essential goods including fabrics and clothing were scarce and designers were required to find inventive ways to make clothes out of the little available. They managed to do so in an unconventional way, over-exaggerating trends from outside of the Eastern Bloc, always combining patterned and textured fabrics which were produced by the local and at the time famous textile industry. 

Overall, the late 1970s was a very monotone period in the country, characterised by the grey eroding stone walls of the capital Prague juxtaposed with the bright, uniform colour palette of beige, green, brown, blue and red of the people’s fashion, this perfectly depicted the mood back then – sad and humble. Sourcing inspiration from authentic Czechoslovak fashion magazines, I designed a tailored collection where the key features included modularity, uniformity, functionality and high attention to detail, with elements having been exaggerated in its amount and proportion. 

Tell us about the cloth you used?

I sourced fabrics both the Czech Republic and the UK, they were both authentic looking and vibrant such as Gibbous and Hudson from Dashing Tweeds, and styling it with my personal approach resulted in a collection which reflects both the beautiful and the ugly of totalitarianism.

I am really interested in sustainable materials and manufacturing and so I was trying to source my fabrics with as much of a sustainable approach as possible, partially using dead stock materials or natural materials which are responsibly made. I love Dashing Tweeds fabrics for their high quality, I know they are responsibly manufactured and where the yarns come from.

I love the Dashing Tweeds fabrics because they are distinctive in the textiles market, different from other woollen and suiting offerings. Within the UK I find it really hard to find colourful and patterned suiting fabrics. The Dashing Tweeds I chose perfectly fitted in with the theme of 1970s Czechoslovakia of my graduate collection!

What do you plan to do next?

Now after graduating the whole fashion industry has slowed down due to the pandemic so I have decided to focus on experimenting a bit more with my aesthetics, I’m also now interested to explore textile design and manufacture. For the moment I am based in Prague, and in the coming months I am planning to collaborate with my artistic friends here who create different branches of the arts. We have such a big tradition of crafts and at the moment there are so many talented young designers who are exploring them; I’m excited to work on projects with those from my close circle.

We hope you enjoyed learning more about Kristyna’s collection. To find out more or ask any questions, do get in contact with her; kristyna.toms@outlook.cz or follow her instagram account; @kristynatoms_.

Also to let you know our retail store is now closed due to UK Government guidelines, but our online store is still processing orders daily and we are offering free shipping on all website orders during lockdown.

It’s that time again, the clocks have gone back, leaves are dropping and birds are on the move. The joy of living in a temperate climate is change. Out with the old and in with the new, or as I like to think, pass on the old to someone deserving and treat yourself to the new.

As the nights draw in, rich colours and sumptuous cloths are needed to cheer us up, that and plenty of mulled wine. Life is a little limited at the moment but going for a jolly walk in a new coat will lighten your mood no end. The distance of the stroll is up to you but we can help with the length of your coat. In fact, when it comes to a coat length is the single most important factor.

I like to categorise coats into three types depending on their drop. Firstly you have the shorter reefer or field type coats, followed by the classic town or even duffle coat length and finally the sweeping trench or great coat.

Each type of coat is very distinctive and has their own merits, I would go so far as to say that ideally you need all three in your wardrobe for various occasions and activities. Formality increases with length and this helps with the styling as well. A beautiful long coat reaching to your lower calf is always going to look good and keep your whole body warm. They never go out of fashion and can be styled in a fabulously chic way for nights to the opera (I can’t wait) or in a film noir trench style, single or double breasted with sleek slanted pockets and perhaps peaked lapels. There is a drama to a long coat and sweeping along the pavements in a great coat lets your imagination run wild; any passer by could be a silent assassin, or perhaps I’ve been dwelling on the news too much recently…

I favour a classic, mid length coat due to their versatility, one that rests just below your knees. You used to see these around the city in a fawn covert coat style or in dark wools with contrast collars. With our warmer winters and more casual times they often replace a jacket and look good with just a jumper underneath. I love my new coat in our Swale cloth, styled with epaulettes it has a military nod of discernment and it’s bold optimistic design is a real perk.

Shorter coats are useful for the active man, in the navy officers wore longer coats whilst the younger boys climbing masts to reef (tie down) the sails wore shorter coats, hence the reefer coat. They do look very smart and a while ago we designed a modern version of the classic for our shop. These have all sold but we are able to tailor a version of a classic short double breasted coat for you and in a cloth such as our navy Royal Jura it would look top notch.

Although we originally started Dashing Tweeds to give men a greater choice of fabrics we have successfully been moving into womenswear tailoring over the last year or so. Women have been spoilt for choice when it come to fabrics available on the high street but in terms of tailoring, sizes and shapes are often limited.

Having clothing made specifically for you has many advantages, you can choose exactly the length and style you like, there are hundreds of buttons and linings to choose from and I think most importantly it’s more environmentally friendly; the waste large brands create due to excessive sampling and production is huge. It’s reported that Burberry alone burnt £90 million pounds of unsold stock over the last few years.

Coats are such great investment pieces and can last many years. Our black Donegal design as seen above is a great example of a timeless coat. Predominantly black with flecks of primary neps the pure Merino wool goes with everything day and night. This coat features a flowing panelled back and an elegant shawl collar, but the joy of our tailoring is you can have anything you like.

To book a made to measure appointment, pop in store before we close for lockdown today, or we can do a video consultation, do get in contact. Production takes around 6 weeks, so orders placed this week are coming in mid December.

Recently we’ve all been forced to arrange meetings in one of the most discomforting of all locations; cyberspace. Half your senses are removed, the lighting is often horrible, there is no atmosphere and moreover you are often joined by a wilting spectre of yourself in the corner. Real life is about a series of rendezvous for which we prepare, in fact much or our childhood is focused on learning what to wear when; you soon gather that going to school in pyjamas is not allowed, but now there are a new set of rules to learn.

I used to always take my cub scout motto of ‘be prepared’ to heart and travel with a dinner suit; you never know when a passing ambassador may extend an invitation to a ball.

One of the things I enjoy most about clothing is their specialisation, from night wear to running gear to morning dress, lounge suit, riding breeches, cocktail dress and evening wear, ones average day could involve so many pleasing changes if life would only slow down to the appropriate speed of a period drama.

Alas, the overclocking of silicon chips has taken away so much richness from our daily habits, forcing a blandness of attire to be adopted as people run to maintain stasis on the slope of success.

But do not be disheartened, at Dashing Tweeds we have ways of cheering you and others up. Wearing a beautiful jacket, tailored to fit, in sustainable life affirming wool is a huge pleasure, and if you follow Coco Chanel’s edict that ‘being well dressed is a beautiful form of politeness’ then you can’t go too wrong when arranging meetings over any medium.

We are now tailoring very comfortable, easy draping unlined jackets ideal for looking good on a zoom call. The secret is to feel at ease yet look like you care. That and raising the camera on your computer, sitting by soft window or side light and tidying your room will all help transform your mirrored zoom spectre to something more appealing. 

Our unlined ‘Zoom Jackets’ work really well in our winter weight tweeds that maintain their shape without the need for stiff canvassing. Our Motley soft donegal cloth works very well as does our new Rush lambswool tweed or our flamboyant Moor design. We have many colours in stock so do email me and I’ll be more than happy to post you swatches.

To book a made to measure appointment either in store or via a video consultation, do get in contact.

GUY@DASHINGTWEEDS.CO.UK HOLLY@DASHINGTWEEDS.CO.UK