Bianca Saunders won the BFC/ Vogue designer prize this year for her proposal for her first women’s collection, which essentially came about by popular demand. Saunders has been designing menswear since 2017, ever since she started her research project at the Royal College of Art. “When I first started doing menswear, it was about the people around me and me studying my friends, and watching their body language and their comfortabilities of being exposed,” she remembers. “Then as time went on, I kept on having women buying the clothes, and coming up to me at events, which is lovely, but more difficult, because it doesn’t fit so well: because it was made for a man’s body.”
The final push into committing to womenswear came from her unofficial mentor, Louise Trotter, who had messaged encouragement when Saunders won the Andam Prize in 2022. ”I’m actually inspired by her so much. When I met her, I started crying because there’s not many who come forward to help like that. We just had a conversation, just talking about her process, her team, and how she has things set up. Which is really interesting, and just gave me stuff to think about.”
The result is the collection she’s named in admiration of her mother: She Was the Most Beautiful Woman I’ve Ever Seen. “My mum’s name is Yvonne. Her style influenced me a lot. It was the mid-‘90s and she was a hairdresser and business owner, going to work in a canary yellow jacket,” she smiled, showing two contrasting photos of her. “And here she is, living it up on a beach in Jamaica.”
The collection has traces of her signature menswear—the asymmetric ‘pulled’ neckline on a tank, the soft , shirt-like fit of her gray suit—but the surprise is it’s not a direct read-over from one to the other. “I guess it was more looking to how I present and show up to events and stuff, because I’m always very much on the ultra-feminine side. I love changing my hair, wearing fitted clothes, wanting to feel sexy. So I guess this is about me discovering myself.”
As she’s launching with a summer collection, there’s a hot pink slip dress, and prints of photos of Jamaican sunsets which she took on holiday visiting relatives. This, alongside draped jersey pieces, and an elevated tracksuit with a semi-formal go-to-work presence. “I like the fact that I can wear it from early morning and still look great at night,” she smiled. A thoughtful and considered designer, she’s grateful for the Vogue prize giving her the resources and creative leeway. “It’s come at a time where I needed to problem solve for my customer,” she said. “I’m excited.”
