Brand
Therefore
Words by Katie Farley
A steady fashion label that artfully ensures the highest care and quality, Therefore is an emerging and adaptable luxury womenswear line that possesses a commendable difference. Garments amid the collection are beautifully bespoke, crafted locally, with the finest fabrications applied throughout, along with employing unremitting artisan techniques and a production which heavily considers the value of an ethical trade.
Seeking inspiration from a comprehensive diversity of influencers, Therefore dexterously modifies timeless sartorial archetypes, which is achieved by manipulating superfluity materials and techniques of artisanal craft, to design garments that are unique, wearable and luxurious in equal measures. Curated by Cary Aiken, the brainchild behind Therefore, the designer and marketer lives and conducts her craft in Melbourne, Australia, which is additionally home to her place of study, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, School of Fashion and Textiles. Aiken graduated in 2016 and established the creative birth of Therefore shortly after this time.
Ethical production and minimal waste are the qualities that remain fundamentally centered around the philosophy of the brand, considered both in design and by preferring to produce garments that are made to order. As soon as the custom garment is ordered it is then handmade, with a varying production period taken into consideration depending on the desired garment. A personalized touch is incorporated within the process of the order, where Therefore’s production team keeps the customer regularly updated via original photographic images that allow the buyer to be involved, watching the life of the garment awaken.
Designer and marketer Cary Aiken vocalize the philosophy behind the brand, echoing of the unique journey of the construction process:
“By sharing the creative practice behind Therefore, along with insights into the production process, I want to encourage an interest in, and an engagement with, the way the clothing we wear is made, with the intention of creating an empathetic connection between the garment and the wearer, leading to increased product lifetime and a change in the way we consume and discard clothing.”
She future adds: “Conceptually and physically I try to bring connection and empathy into my design work. By connecting people to the practice of craft and the processes of manufacturing I aim to increase the value of the maker, the process the finished product.”
Extracting inspiration from a cohort of wardrobe staples, along with subcultures and street styles, the designer crafts exclusive aesthetics which radiate high-end streetwear juxtaposed with a bohemian vision that inevitably focuses on wear-ability and longevity. Operating a small-scale label has forever been Aiken’s lifetime aspiration, designing ethereal clothing in Australia whilst ensuring creative cottage industries have employment opportunities and simultaneously enjoying a stimulating and fulfilling position amid a passionate, artful outlook. In each collection, Therefore endeavors to encompass further aspects of sustainability that will result in ever-evolving outlooks, which center around design, fabrications and the method of production.
Therefore’s latest collection ‘Textile Mnemonics’, disrupts and redefines the wearable every day in a scene of aesthetically nostalgic looks, elevating the garments perceived value and worth. Employing sumptuous fabrications with techniques of laborious construction to elude to the everyday, the clothing assembly explores the highest beloved garment prototypes and metamorphoses them into items of awe-inspiring and luxury. An enthralling abundance of diaphanous slip dresses, lace lingerie, velvet denim and exquisite embroidery and stitching is seen throughout the impelling collection.
An almost fairytale quality of the garments is amalgamated amid Therefore’s vision, suggesting that sustainability and luxury can beautifully marry to illustrate an aesthetic of goddess vulnerability.
