In a chandelier-lit space lined with silver steel racks, collections of the season’s most interesting pieces of fashion hang with invitation, awaiting Olivia May’s guests and customers to discover it. Such statements are so interesting that its residence of showcase, Olivia May, manifests a perspective where an expanse of experimental design is encouraged for the sake of expression and inspiration.
Olivia May fosters the future of fashion. With a boutique in the United Kingdom, an online magazine and e-commerce shop, Olivia May is a group of styling experts who strive to unlock individuality, bring innovation through clothing and offer advice on accessorizing. In a few words Ann, the founder and covert voice behind Olivia May, articulates her commitment to supporting designers with an unconventional approach to fashion design. For Ann, this interest casts itself through a love for styling outfits and an appreciation for design and fabric. This passion connects Olivia May to its community of designers who embark on simplifying the name of fashion. The nature of design and personal conviction for aesthetic will be their guides.
This belief drives Olivia May’s mission to expose a collective group of designers who singularly make a difference in the world of style and design. Its impact shines through their quality of product, fabrics and design. The showcase of designers may be unique, but they reach a conjunction in their unwavering dedication to Olivia May’s promise: a mission to quality design, value of selection and customer service.
Olivia May desires its clients’ inspiration. The company was created with the intention to gather creativity for individual expression through clothing.
A team of Olivia May stylists motivate this experience by offering mood boards, a presentation that aids guests to discover a deeper meaning to design. The hope is that these boards will bring understanding and perspective to collections that stimulate an immediate reaction and distinct affect toward these unique designs. Another source of aid for the fashion enthusiast is the “Sign Up” Section. This offer keeps customers up-to-date on the upcoming designer launches for each season. These particular services allow guests to further explore the meaning of design.
Among the current brand’s featured in Olivia May’s storefront and on their online website is Studio Rundholz. Tank tops, collared button downs and the standard drop crotch pant are defining pieces for this brand. In recent endeavors, Carsten and Lenka Rundholz of Studio Rundholz accessorize this trouser with varied side pockets in addition to featuring a grey knit detailed mock turtleneck and a stand up collar jacket. This simplicity of design exhibits Studio Rundholz’s interest in creating clothing that speaks to the non-conformist, untraditional styles of expression. Rundholz defines itself through its clothing design. In allowing clothing to speak for itself, it enables structure and silhouette that identifies itself and its customer through its form.
Olivia May and Rundholz converge on the understanding of how clothing is transformed into an expression of personal style. Rundholz’s designs are both functional and phenomenal; a highly desirable effect fashionistas and style gurus strive for in their own wardrobes.
Popular, sold-out pieces include basic t-shirts, and simple crew-neck long sleeved tops, as well as knitted cardigans and cropped trousers. Also introducing its aesthetic are the sequence of smock dresses from the brand’s Autumn/Winter 2016 Collection. The embodiment of traditional royal faces printed on dresses and pleated tops indicate the brand’s vision for fashion through design. This artistic motif resembles an affect identical to the influence art has on the soul. Rundholz complements these statements by adding dynamic angles and exaggerated layers to everyday attire. This defining characteristic categorizes itself into three different collections: Black Label, Dip and Mainline Collection.
The Black Label Collection offers the most color of the three. Snoods, graphics in the forms of geometric shapes and numbers typify long-sleeved button down shirts, in the same step as velvet drop crotch trousers. The Rundholz Dip Collection differentiates from the others as an experience dedicated to fabric texture. This collection focuses on the dip dye technique, a coloring effect that lends an attention to the structure of design: an experiment made with the support of zippers, buttons, cuts and pockets. The final result concluded with jersey leggings containing a skirt panel made with a series of side pockets and a collared button jacket accented with splatter paint.
The Rundholz Mainline collection offers the purest of the brand’s body of work. Overtly feminine and further defined by traditional pieces with an awkward twist: fabric manipulations, funky patterns on button-downs and statement pieces, which include solid colored pencil skirts, capes and a shoe collection of silvery, grey monochromatic designs.
The Chelsea ankle booties, oxford dress shoes and suede slip-ons are the statements of this mainline collection. Furthermore, these designs offer an extension to the establishment of this brand. They are true accessories to complement the silver dyed cardigans and deconstructed culottes that dictate this collection.
Studio Rundholz offers an attraction to design through a relationship between textures of design, prints and a theory of design close in conversation to fashion trailblazer, Rick Owens and New York’s fashion house, Opening Ceremony. Through a conspicuous, minimalist approach, Studio Rundholz naturally brings a new meaning to clothing. In the brand’s recently launched collaboration with British boutique and online hub Olivia May, their investment in the free-form and structure of fabric is respected, treasured and marketed as a keep-sake for Olivia May’s guests to cultivate as their own.
Text by Valerie McPhail
