Get To Know the Queen of Print Orla Kiely

If you look through any current fashion, home or gift catalogue you’ll spot an iconic Orla Kiely repeat design in the first few flicks of a page. Crowned the Queen of Print by numerous institutions such as The Times and Guardian, her career has recently been celebrated in her latest book, A Life in Pattern. It’s not hard to speculate that the huge demand for her fashion stems (conveniently ‘Stem’ is the official name for her main floral repeat print) from her nostalgia for riotous retro styles, which, with her constant updates, can never go out of fashion. Sew goes up close and personal to investigate how her influence has transformed wardrobes and interiors worldwide.

Early Starts

If I am ever asked when we first started our label,” Orla Kiely begins in her book, A Life in Pattern, “I think back to working at my kitchen table designing handbags with Robert, our baby son, on my lap”. It’s hard to believe that this domestic setting is how a multi-million pound brand began. In fact, it planted its creative seed far earlier, when Orla was just 12 years old and the proud new owner of a Singer sewing machine. In 1982, when Orla graduated from the National College of Arts and Design in Dublin, she moved to New York to work for a wallpaper and fabric designer, then back to London to study at The Royal College of Art and freelance for Esprit and Marks & Spencer. It seems family and function are firmly at the heart of the brand; it was Orla’s father that pointed out, at her first exhibition at London Fashion Week in 1994, that everyone was carrying a handbag, with hats (her first design venture) distinctly lacking. It was then that she revolutionised the late nineties – full of monochrome and gloss – with bright, quirky handbags made of printed laminated cloth.

Creative Collaborations

You might recall seeing flashes of Orla’s fresh earthy tones on Citroën DS3 cars, London city buses or Brabantia waste bins. Step into a supermarket today and you’ll also see yoghurt brand Danone sporting the Stem on its packaging on its exclusive collector’s edition pot campaign. “Stem was designed in a moment of inspiration [and] became the seed from which our brand flourished,” explains Orla. It’s hard to predict which professional or promotional surfaces will be left untouched by her in a few years...

Royal Approval

In the last decade, style icons from Alexa Chung to Keira Knightley have immortalised Orla Kiely’s pieces in multiple press pages. In 2012, the Duchess of Cambridge wore a brown wool jacquard Kiely piece and Birdie Shirt Dress, to her official engagements in Oxfordshire, which swiftly caused the dress to sell out! We don’t know how a fashion designer can receive more endorsement than that!

Get the Orla Look

Give your stitching a retro kick with our tips and tricks: • Don’t avoid earthy toned fabrics, such as browns and mustard yellows, they make a great base for bolder colours. • Choose a simple focal design, then embrace it with repetition. This rule is perfect for stitching home décor, such as cushions and quilts. • Always keep a sketchbook and camera to hand. You never know where inspiration will strike – it could be as simple as an autumn leaf. • When it comes to your curated closet, clash simple shapes, such as the statement sixties shift, with bold and beautiful prints.

A Walk Through Time…

1963
Born in Dublin, Ireland

1975
Orla begins to make party outfits for herself and her sisters on her new Singer sewing machine

1992
Graduates at the Royal College of Art, London, with a masters in knitted textiles

1997
Establishes The Orla Kiely Partnership with husband Dermott Rowan, showing at London Fashion Week and receiving instant orders from Harrods

2000
Designs the simple leaf motif Stem for the following Spring/Summer collection, which transforms her brand forever

2010
Creates cover for new edition of Little Women for Puffin Classics

2011
Stem featured on front cover of Fifty Bags That Changed The World by the Design Museum (£12.99, Octopus). In the same year, receives an OBE for Services To Fashion and Business

2016
Orla made a Senior Fellow at Royal College of Art