Works of the Heart

By Hannah Rand

Make Magazine talks to head of brand and buying Nikki Sher and head of design Laura Shippey of TOAST about timeless textures, Prairie Oyster cocktails and how to keep your creative spark alight.

Toast clothes have a timeless feel to them. How do you design something that is enduring as well as fashionable?

(Laura) I’ve always been attracted to authenticity. We want to make clothes that feel unique and come with a feeling of integrity, thought and passion. We make clothes for women who know their style, who don’t feel the need to overdo it.

What can we expect from TOAST’ SS17 collection?

(Laura) No effort required; a sense of ease, boundlessness with an underpinning of modernity. It’s a mood that we started with the AW16 collection, the first that Nikki and I did together.

If I was going to buy one, ok, two pieces, from the SS17 collection today, which should they be and how should I wear them?

(Nikki) I would say, the Mara apron dress – a longer length, straighter pinafore dress, which comes in a cotton twill. It’s a great layering dress and works brilliantly with our cashmere wool button sweater with the marina button detail on the shoulder. That idea of such a luxurious yarn with a utilitarian-style dress really appeals.

And then my second option is the Japanese denim wrap jacket. It’s collarless and has a big tie at the front.  It’s very hard to find cool, unique jackets that go with everything and there’s an inherent quality that comes with Japanese denim. And I’d wear it with the Indigo Twill ‘Alix’ trouser pull-on cotton trousers, with have an elasticated waist and are slightly tapered and cropped.

‘Foster thoughtfulness’ is TOAST’s proposition. How do you both find time to take a moment and foster thoughtfulness in your own lives?

(Nikki) Well, it really helps when you love what you do and you work with a fantastic bunch of people. During the week it’s just go-go-go so I really try to slow down at the weekend. This starts on Friday night with a family meal. Sometimes it’s just the three of us – my husband and our three year old daughter. Sometimes it’s with family and friends. I also read lots of books about spirituality – it helps to keeps me grounded and understand myself and others. When you work in an intense environment, you have to make sure you stay a good person too. I particularly like God Wears Lipstick by Karen Berg. It’s about manifesting your powers as a woman.

(Laura) I recently moved back from London after eight years of living in Brooklyn, New York. So I’m enjoying sorting out my back garden – digging it over gives me space to breath and think. I’m always in this sense of forward propulsion, always thinking about what is next, rather than now. So I’m literally grounding myself by digging up soil. I love watching how the light changes, turning the earth, digging holes. It’s very peaceful.

The seasonal theme for the SS17 collection is Works of the Heart – whose work do you find inspiring in your private and personal life?

(Laura) When we created the collection we thought a lot about the creative minds and passions of women throughout time and across cultures. It sounds like quite a grand concept but it’s really about how valuable it is to be able to be able to express yourself. There’s a quote by Martha Graham (the American modern dancer and choreographer) that says if you’re unique and are unfulfilled, then something is lost. She says that it is a person’s passion that makes the world great. This is a very inspiring place to kick off a creative process: to strip away the practical and think freely about what is important to you.

(Nikki) We just came back from an inspiration trip to Paris and saw an exhibition by the American artist Cy Twombly at the Pompidou Centre. I was fascinated by his references of ancient myths and also – Just as Laura was saying about Martha Graham – how a single passion is a spark that lights up someone’s life. We also saw a collection of Impressionist paintings at the Foundation Louis Vuitton, which was mind boggling. They still feel so fresh in 2017. They were owned by a Russian collector and I love the idea of these modern paintings hanging among all the gilt and glitz of a palace in pre-Revolution Russia. I’m not always so inspired by Paris – sometimes I just see dog shit – but this time I came away feeling really enthused by people who have dedicated their lives to keeping their passions alive.

How has ‘Works of the Heart’ been brought to life in the collection?

(Laura) We often start with a historical or cultural reference, perhaps a combination of textures or colours: handwoven cotton and silk, worn with utilitarian cotton, or the manly motifs of herringbone and dogtooth but set with a relaxing silhouette. It can be hard to put into words but designing a collection is about paring an idea back, then looking at it with an objective eye and refining, and repeating – sketching, fitting, presenting, questioning. Intuition is often not instinctive – you can end up with something quite different from what you started with. It’s very satisfying to find a creative route deep in the past and put it through the lens of what is relevant and real right now.

You both live and work in London. Give us your top places to visit in the city.

(Laura) I love a good farmers market and live near Herne Hill in South London, so I enjoy going around the ones at Crystal Palace at the weekend. The chef of the Marksman Pub on Hackney Road is a good friend of my husband so we are lucky enough to go there for food regularly. The Horniman Museum is also a hidden London treasure, and the Barbican is a great for architecture and culture. And, always – people watching at the Tate Modern and along the South Bank.

(Nikki) Primrose Hill has a brilliant combination of village-y shops and has a cracking view of London at the top. If I want a fancy drink after work, I head straight to 69 Colbrooke Row, which is a tiny, relaxed speakeasy that makes amazing cocktails. It’s very unusual and cool and the staff are really passionate about what they do. Ask for the Prairie Oyster cocktail. That’s my tip.

PS. Huge thanks to Toast and The Communications Store for their assistance on this interview and shoot

PPS. Huge thanks to Yoga Works for the use of their beautiful studio as a shoot location.