My interview with designer--> TONIA BASTYAN

To celebrate the launch of new brand Bastyan, a V.I.P event was held in the late

afternoon on Wednesday 9^th June, at the concession in House of Fraser Manchester. The inspiration behind the brand name ‘Bastyan’ comes from chief designer Tonia Bastyan who has previously worked for Karen Millen, Whistles and was part of the design duo Press & Bastyan that excelled in the 90’s.

Tonia was on-hand in the afternoon from 4pm until 8pm offering a personal shopping experience to customers, with the fantastic promotion of 25% off all purchases to also mark the event. Molton Brown and Bare Minerals were also on hand pampering customers with beauty products and complimentary makeovers.

The Bastyan concession situated on the second floor in House of Fraser, debuted in late March and has steadily set up a successful customer base attracting the interest of women of all ages. The collection is focused around the theme of a trans-seasonal wardrobe and explores contemporary feminine tailoring through beautiful soft hues suitably perfect for any special occasion.

In the early evening I managed to catch up with Tonia and we had a cosy chat about her debut collection as well as her ideas and inspirations for the future.

So Tonia…how did you get into the fashion industry and what got you interested?

I worked in fashion retail like you when I was younger and started off working as a Manager in Karen Millen Turnbridge Wells shop, as I didn’t get accepted into my desired degree. At this time of working in the shop it was before the Karen Millen brand was established like it is today and in the early days Karen would drape fabric and work on mannequins in the shop creating her latest designs. I then got accepted into my desired degree and studied Fashion & Textile design at university and a year after I left, I set up Press & Bastyan my own business when I was 25 years old.

What sort of things inspire you?

Vintage is one of my biggest inspirations and throughout the collection there are many examples of embroidery, beading and knitwear as my interests lie within textiles and I like touchy feely surfaces. The concept of lifestyle is also one of  the major influences on my designs as the clothes are based around things that you do within your life, places that you go to and what you might have to do in the day. The collection is very functional and can ideally be worn during the day at work and then carried on through to the evening. I love the work of Ann Demeulemeester and a lot of other Belgian designers who I think are fantastic, it’s probably because of their sharp tailoring mixed in with more softer vintage pieces. Bastyan is put together like that, there is a very tailoring influence as the core and lots of feminine pieces layered on top of that; a mix of the feminine and masculine.

Have you always been interested in design?

From the age of four to eighteen I did ballet and originally wanted to be a dancer, but not having the required height or build for a dancer which can be judged around the age of twelve, I started to think about my other interests with fashion being one of them. My passion for creativity led me to do an art and design foundation course, and I also studied fine art for a while but eventually focused on fashion and textile design.

Who is your collection aimed at and why?

I would say that my target audience is women in their thirties and upwards, tailored for a confident individual someone, who is quite creative about the way they put their clothes together, someone who works and has a busy lifestyle. All my designs I would wear myself too, so I think it’s aimed at women like myself really and I’m not different to everybody else,  I may be a designer but my lifestyle is exactly the same. I get up in the morning and do exactly the same things as everybody else does…like taking my son to nursery, working, come home and then making dinner; Bastyan is very much a lifestyle brand.

what are you planning for the up and coming seasons?

The designs for Autumn/Winter 2010 is already complete and I’m about to start working on Spring/Summer 2011. For Autumn/Winter there are areas of the  collection that are quite military, mixed in with very feminine vintage pieces, I don’t design in specific themes I tend to design as a look so it’s an extension of what I have already done and ideas that I have added to. The pieces I have done for Spring/Summer this season are also in Autumn/Winter and will follow through as they are suitably wardrobe basics. The pieces found in Spring/Summer are also in Autumn/Winter and will follow through as they have been designed as wardrobe basics. For Spring/Summer going forward which I have only just started working on, again is inspired by textiles that I see, specific silhouettes that I think should be integrated into my designs. The collection is built around core pieces, great pieces of tailoring, good jackets, good bottoms and then lots of prettier pieces that can then be layered on top of it. 

where do you see the business in 5 years and where would you like to be?

In five years time we would like to say we are in all the major cities in the UK and we would love to have some stand alone stores. The plan has always been to branch into Europe fairly quickly, particularly in some of the Scandinavian countries that I think the brand would sit alongside in quite nicely.

To round of the Q&A Tonia makes some further comments about the brand.

The most important thing to say for the brand, would be that we are launching our first click and buy from August for the Autumn/Winter 2010 season, everything will be available at www.bastyan.eu

You can purchase the beautiful current collection on the House of Fraser website.