Sadie Williams’ collaboration with & Other Stories: ’Tis the season to sparkle

Sadie Williams’ collaboration with & Other Stories is perfectly timed for party dressing, writes Rebecca Gonsalves

Sadie’s story: Model wears dress £125; Sadie Williams x & Other Stories, stories.com

With its techno fabrics and chevron stripes, there’s something of the futurist about Sadie Williams’ collaboration with & Other Stories, but in fact the recent graduate found inspiration for the collection in Sixties designers such as Pierre Cardin and André Courrèges, old-fashioned motorcycles and Japanese biker gangs.

These were the references that inspired Williams’ MA final collection at least, a standout at the 2013 Central Saint Martins graduate show that earned her a distinction for her textiles specialism, and which would become the jumping-off point for her collaboration with & Other Stories.

“Aside from having a natural inclination towards working with texture, pattern and colour, the most important quality for a textile designer is to feel passionately about it,” says Williams, who has been overwhelmed by the freelance opportunities and projects that have come her way since graduation.

“That way you enjoy experimenting, playing around and making mistakes and finding the techniques which work best for you. This way you can recognise your strengths and try to push and refine them to their full potential.”

Williams’ collection for & Other Stories is full of bold colours and textures and is perfectly timed as an alternative to traditional party dressing as we enter the season of making merry. Statement pieces include full-skirted dresses and skirts of tinsel-like material woven with blocked colours and chevron stripes and sportier raglan-sleeved brushed silk blouses with metallic foil prints.

There’s a more cosy side to the collection too, with tactile “snuggle” finishes, which might come in handy when the festivities of the night before leave you feeling a little fragile.