Londoner’s Diary
Doyennes of the west London social scene descended on Portobello last week for the launch of sisters Lola Bute and Jazzy De Lisser’s new clothing label, DeBute. Things started off regularly enough, with a big dinner at the newly opened Canteen on Golborne Road. Propping up the tables were a coterie of the duo’s friends, including model-prosecco mogul Poppy Delevingne, model-activists Adwoa Aboah and Cora Corre, model-influencer Olivia Neill, model-author Tish Weinstock, and model-actor Clara Paget. Well-heeled multi-hyphenates were in long supply, but the sisters say DeBute is for everyone. “There’s no exclusivity. It’s a fun, London brand inspired by sisterhood, it’s not trying to be high fashion or pretentious or exclusive,” Bute told me.
Many of the guests were dressed up in clothing from DeBute’s debut collection: silky black dresses, graphic tees and kilts in tartan from Lola’s family – her late father was the Marquess of Bute in Scotland. “I feel like we brought the best parts of ourselves and our styles into the collection,” she said. “Jazzy doesn’t think everything should be see-through and short, which I do. My style icon is Kate Moss at Glastonbury, Jazzy’s is probably Jane Birkin with her basket in the South of France – which is not me.”
The brand is “inspired by sisterhood” in the truest sense of the word. “Our fights have basically always been about clothes,” De Lisser told me, “so we’re now starting a brand based on all the things we stole from each other throughout our teenage years.” It’s a chance to make sartorial amends. Bute says that a “stunning baby pink slip” will feature in an upcoming collection – an ode to a dress she swiped from her sister and promptly lost before either of them had the chance to wear it.
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This was not a bed by 10pm type of evening. As dinner was finishing, a Spice Girls tribute band materialised and had people dancing on their chairs, singing along to Wannabe. Then Skins star Seb de Souza also materialised and played a rendition of Hey Jude on the piano. Afterwards, everyone decamped upstairs to The Fat Badger, a soon-to-open bar by the team behind The Pelican.
There was a giant pink cake (which was well documented but untouched by the Instagram ingénues), cigarettes dotted around in glasses like canapes and dirty martinis on tap. “I think so many people go to these dinners and they’re often so boring, so we wanted it to be different and something people would remember,” Bute told me. A late night round of pizzas and DJing from Cassius Taylor and Jordan Vickors kept people going until witching hour.
