Preen Fall/Winter 2011

Designing for the house of Preen, Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi presented a collection that seemed to have been heavily influenced by arts and crafts. That's not to say the collection was juvenile- heaven forbid, it was quite the contrary! This was a collection that bridged the gap between impressionable 20-somethings and the 30-something who can afford high fashion.
Experimenting with cubism, the collection also experimented with fabrics- case in point, a light sleeveless blouse had the top part of a crepe skirt (cobalt) attached, but there was another full skirt (purple) beneath so that the combined effect was of color-blocking.
"It came from the San Francisco craft movement," Thornton said in a backstage interview after the show. "Craft is not used to much in modern fashion- tapestry, embroidering, beading... We wanted it to almost clash in a way."

Preen 2010 Spring/Summer Collection

Of this season's collection, Justin Thornton, one half of designing team for Preen, told vogue.co.uk: "With the Preen Line, when we moved studios, we also re-housed the archive and revisited some of the mainline styles - the grunge styles - and so that was the mood. We often take pieces from the mainline and make them really easy to wear - practical. This season we introduced stretch lace to make it fun and young and we've played with an abstract floral print... We started by winding rope around the body. It looked slightly bondage but then we developed it with silk."