I have always designed from the inside out. A garment begins with something I want to feel, and the work of giving it shape. Then comes the person who will wear it, with a body, a history and a life of her own.
Camilla Wellton is the name on my fashion label, but the work has never stayed neatly within fashion. Here you can follow the making, the collections, the collaborations and the other ways I have found to shape experience.
On a mission to create a reality where
Hello, my name is Camilla Wellton.
I believe it is possible to love the life we are actually living, not only the one we imagine for later. I keep returning to a simple practice: whatever I am making, thinking, feeling or becoming, I want to meet it with sensual reverence and a willingness to play. Even with the texture of reality itself.
I am a self-taught fashion designer and pattern constructor of French Caribbean and Swedish heritage, based in Stockholm. I founded my label in 2001 and brought it into its present form in 2009. I was taught how to cut a basic bodice and skirt. Almost everything else came from working late, trying something I didn’t yet know how to do, taking it apart and discovering another way. In time I stopped worrying about the techniques I hadn’t been taught. I’d rather be precise and curious than pretend to know everything.
I began with enormous, fairy-tale skirts and dresses. Then came trousers, jersey, coats and leather bags. By spring 2011 I could think not only about a garment, but an entire wardrobe. Mathematics, environmental science, yoga and philosophy found their way into the patterns, though they rarely announce themselves. I don’t usually begin with a trend forecast. I begin by paying attention to what I want to feel, then look for a line that can carry it.
I make my own patterns, toiles and first samples. The work has also led me into leather accessories, costume and styling, including collaborations on Tobias Rydin’s film UltraLove and Professor John-Paul Zaccarini’s artistic research, including FutureBrownSpace. The Timeline follows the years, and Beyond Fashion opens the door to the rest of my practice.
When someone wears a piece I have made, I get to see what it becomes in another life. A few writers have noticed that exchange too.
The Rise, from the Camilla Wellton archive.
2008
“Perfect proportions give the coat a sense of grace, sensuality and elegance”
Anna Battista
On the Kimonoat coat, 2008
The Surreal, from the Camilla Wellton archive.
2010
“architectonic shapes with a zen minimalist colour palette.”
Finding Eco
On the spring/summer 2010 designs
Integrity, Individuality and Self-love
I am drawn to clothes that make room for the woman rather than asking her to disappear into an idea. Sometimes that means a collar rising around the face; sometimes it is a seam that draws the waist close before releasing the fabric into movement. The Kimonoat, The Rise and the later collections all begin with that attention to silhouette and sensation.
Integrity, individuality and self-love are not slogans I attach to a garment at the end. They are part of how I want to design and how I hope it feels to wear the work. I care about materials, the life of a piece and the decisions that remain invisible in a photograph. From Stockholm to Shanghai and Jakarta, those questions have accompanied the collections. Now I invite you to explore them for yourself.