Who, me? A little about the designer.
Let me start in the eighties. An era where shoulder pads were high, fringes were higher, and fashion was bigger and brighter than ever. Madonna, Michael, Bowie and Cyndi were the fashion covet…but my Mum’s wardrobe was the coolest place I’d ever roamed. Her acid wash stone leather jacket hanging just out of five-year-old me reach was a bigger, more beautiful mystery than Santa and his offsiders.
It was a good many years between acid wash dreaming and buying my first ‘leather’ jacket. From Tasmania to London, out of Mum’s walk-in and into the infamous TopShop I went. What. A. Scene! The eighties were back! But to be fair, so was every past and future concept of ‘anything goes’. Eyes wide, it was all amazing, but I had come for one thing: my jacket. A staple I’d dreamt about since Mum’s faultless acid wash and reimagined since Dad modelled a head-to-toe black leathered ‘straight-off-the-back of his Harley’ look.
Back in Tasmania working in retail (not nearly as progressive as TopShop!) I LOVED my new London leather jacket. I felt instantly more confident and early 20’s cool wearing it… and then, sadly, equally as fashion tragic and uncool when what I thought would be my forever staple began to peel and fray. This was not the intergenerational forever piece that would be admired for years to come – this was a faux leather, cheap acrylic that would joylessly end up as a fast-fashion contribution to landfill. I was gutted that it barely lasted one winter before leaving me. If I had invested in its more expensive counterpart I would still have a piece of London, and in it, the memories of my first trip there every time I wore it.
I wanted to design and produce a forever piece. A jacket that could be worn again and again but was also a rite of passage like buying your first car, having your first alcoholic drink, or that feeling of your very first kiss. Anyone who has known me in the past 10 years will know how passionate I was (and still am!) about the vision for my brand. You could not walk past me in your own leather without me examining every detail of it, feeling it for its softness and looking at its buttons, zips, internal pockets, stitching and folds. If I was going to do this, it had to be perfect. It had to be Kate Moss, Hayley Bieber and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley worthy. I needed to prove to myself that a girl from Tassie with a pinboard (and later a Pinterest!) could have a fashion dream and bring it to fruition.
BOLI is my very own mood-board, a physical insight into everything I love, live and breathe. Through my designs I hope to honour the traditional, classic, timelessness of leather alongside modern minimalism and the need to move on from the throw-away mentality of the wider retail industry. I will be forever grateful for the family and friends that supported me through manufacturing challenges, saw and recognised my purpose, and let me style them along the way!
And to my very best, my Ci, C-Flan, Ciarra…whatever the setback or self-doubt, I’ll keep dreaming and perfecting away with you as my forever muse: effortless in black leather and a red lip. Like it was always meant to be. The BOLÏ way x