When the curtain closed on home-grown label TOVE’s first London Fashion Week show in February, the rapturous applause and beaming smiles that filled Senate House were testament to a chic and compelling catwalk debut from a brand that’s already much loved by the fashion set — most of whom were packed onto the benches front row.
Deliciously fluid silk jersey maxi dresses in burgundy and ochre, floor-skimming belted wool coats and utilitarian separates in buttery soft leather spoke to the effortless cool that’s garnered TOVE a loyal following among women on the hunt for the understatedly expensive aesthetic of The Row, Gabriela Hearst and Toteme, but at prices that don’t cost a week’s holiday. Everything was styled with chunky jewellery and black sabah-style slippers: a polished, practical wardrobe for switched-on working women. Katie Holmes and Minnie Driver are already fans.
“I think a lot of people were quite excited about us showing,” says Holly Wright, who co-founded the label in 2019 with Camille Perry, 15 years after they met at Topshop (as head of design and head of buying, respectively).
Those were the glory years, pre-Philip Green, pre-Zara and pre-Boohoo, when H&M only sold basics, ASOS was a niche site called As Seen On Screen and Topshop Oxford Circus was a mecca of London cool.
“It was an incredible time to be there,” says Wright, who first worked with Perry on the sell-out Kate Moss for Topshop line. “There was so much innovation. It was like you had your own business within this corporate structure — they just let you run with what you thought was the coolest or newest thing.”
As they outgrew high street fashion, the pair, now in their forties and each with two children, began plotting a brand that would cater to the needs of the millennials who had shopped the ditsy floral ra-ra skirts and sequin boleros they designed in the 2000s, but now have grown-up lives. “There was a real disparity appearing between luxury and high street in terms of price, quality and sustainability,” says Perry. “We could see an opportunity to create a brand that balanced modernity and femininity.”
TOVE (the word is Danish and means strength and beauty) launched with its first collection in May 2019, and was immediately snapped up by Net-a-Porter for a year-long exclusive partnership, by the end of which it was crowned one of Net’s Faces of the Future — a list of 20 brands that it predicts will shape the coming decade.
“The brand has managed to amass a cult following of women in search of sustainably versatile pieces that can take them from day to night and season to season,” says Caroline Rush, British Fashion Council CEO. “Theirs is an audience that looks to prioritise functionality and wearability while remaining utterly chic.”
Tove is not cheap — their sell-out Ceres dress is £565, a pair of jeans £260 — but the idea is that these well-crafted clothes will live for decades in your wardrobe. Each biannual collection will continue the story, with pieces you can add “like chapters of a book”, says Perry.
They have worked hard to be planet-friendly. The cloth is from Italy and Portugal, where everything is also manufactured, and the denim, which dropped late last year, is made from organic cotton and recycled polyester. “There’s always room for improvement and there’s a cost implication [with being more eco] but it’s a non-negotiable,” says Wright.
Their business structure is intentionally flexible for an all-female team, half of whom are mothers. Remarkably for a brand that pulled off such a spectacular show, TOVE doesn’t have a studio. They work from their respective homes, with occasional meet-ups at Soho House. “It’s a little crazy!” admits Wright. “It worked well in Covid but the team is getting bigger now and we do need a space.”
Success relies on constant communication — “if anyone saw our WhatsApps they’d be horrified” — and an appreciation of each other’s roles. This year will see them launch footwear, bags and swim, but what’s down the line? “World domination!” exclaims Wright. “And the yachts! When can we be like Philip?!” Perry chimes in, prompting giggling.
“No, in all honesty we always say there’s no limit to the brand. It’s got so much potential and it’s so untapped,” Wright continues. “We’ve got it to this point by ourselves… and we have barely scratched the surface.”
