Boho chicks (From Living Northeast)

Boho chicks

12:13pm Monday 20th July 2009 in

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Jenny Laue speaks to two designers who’ve made a quiet, but determined entry into the North-East fashion scene, even though they launched their label without money, premises or even a business plan.

ONE-OFF pieces in the fashion world are rare indeed. In most circumstances they’re either hand-me-downs from your grandma or designer items worth thousands of pounds. But what do you do if you don’t have a stylish and accommodating granny? Or if your salary won’t stretch any further than the high street?

If you’re lucky enough to live in the North-East, there’s another option. Just pop along to Middlesbrough and see what the girls at the Boho Chic Boutique, in Victoria Road, have in stock.

Boho Chic is a new fashion label, launched last year by designers Christine Filmer-Sankey and Laura Pearn.

Their style is best described as quirky and individual, but totally on-trend.

“We just love to make one-off pieces,” says Christine, who came into the world of fashion design as a mature student at Hartlepool College of Art and Design.

“The most we make up of one design is maybe a dress in a small, medium and large, but each will still be individually embellished.”

Think Gok’s Fashion Fix but a without the high street clothes. “We use vintage fabrics, roll-ends, lots of trims which we get from local suppliers, lots of embroidery and buttons. We even recycle tablecloths and curtains to jazz up our designs and we hand-draw on items so it looks like print.”

What’s best is that, despite being hand-made, their items are still affordable with hand-worked T-shirts costing from £20, dresses between £30 and £60, bags from £15 to £45 and coats and jackets between £50 and £75. Normal high street prices, but with the assurance that buttons won’t fly off or seams come apart on first wearing.

Christine and Laura, who both studied fashion at Northumbria University, launched the Boho Chic label because they always wanted to be self-employed. An introduction through a mutual friend saw creative sparks flying between them and they decided their skills would complement each other and they could risk setting up on their own, even in such a harsh economic climate.

“When we first got together to share ideas, it was all a bit slap-dash, really. It’s been a really steep learning curve for us,” says Christine.

“At first finding premises was really difficult. When we found out about the incubation units for start-up businesses at Middlesbrough University and we applied, we didn’t realise we’d need a proper business plan. So we had to do that and a Power Point presentation in about a week, which was really daunting. We didn’t have any start-up money either. I think we had only about £50 when we opened, so it was all done on a wing and a prayer.”

“Luckily it all seems to have worked out and since moving into the university unit in February, we’re doing really well. We’ve now got to the stage where we could actually do with some help from a student or someone on work experience.”

As they are now, though, the two of them do everything themselves, from designing and pattern-making to cutting and sewing, marketing and selling. But that is not the end to their talents as both Laura and Christine are involved in community arts projects. They work with a lot of schools, make wall hangings for churches and costumes for theatre groups. At the moment they’re busy creating maritime outfits for Hartlepool Dock Fest.

For those whose fashion appetite has been whetted by Christine and Laura’s designs, Boho Chic fashions are sold at designer markets across the region, including the Affordable Vintage Fashion Fair, in Middlesbrough.

A Boho Chic website is also being set up, but the best thing is to give them a ring or pop in to their workshop.

■ Boho Chic Boutique, Victoria Buildings, Victoria Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BA.

Tel 07837-655-353 or 07504-694-554 or email bohochicboutique@live.co.uk