Music and fashion team ups have the slight whiff of craven wrongness about them: blue-sky thinking on a team-building day. But unlike Taylor Swift, Avril Lavigne and Sheryl Crow, the Gossip’s Beth Ditto might have just got it right.
At a time when different body shapes are getting a bit more attention (Barbie has finally gone curvy and Sports Illustrated’s legendary swimsuit issue features three plus-size models, Ronda Rousey, Ashley Graham and Hailey Clauson), Ditto’s new collection finds itself smack bang in the middle of the zeitgeist. Ditto described the range as “a movement by us, for us,” and hammered the point home to the Sunday Times, telling them she wanted plus-sizes to come in from the cold. “Some brands are starting to do plus-size lines, but they’re all an afterthought, never the focus.” With sizes from 18-32 this range begins to right that wrong.
Like her previous collaboration with Evans from 2009, the collection pulls from all parts of Ditto’s persona: the 11 pieces are a little bit couture-y, a little bit punk and a little bit country. They feature an eclectic mix of print dresses, denim jackets and silhouette dresses suggesting a high-end high-street look that’s accessible but also fun.
Ditto has circled around the fashion world for years, modelling for the likes of Marc Jacobs and Jean Paul Gaultier, but with this collection, she places her definitive stamp on things.
- Available at bethditto.com
