Press

ON LOCATION 1997 – 2005

Rory Bremner, Weekend FT, 1998
‘Ever since a friend commissioned Louise Verity to make a silk dressing gown for me as a present about five years ago, she has burst into my flat at regular intervals like a creative torpedo to mend, alter and make clothes and sew curtains and cushions. Then she disappears for a few months and I wait for this whirling satellite to pass into my orbit again.

Louise is imaginative, creative and a bit mad…. I give her a brief but I know the end result will be a surprise, because she takes an idea and adds a touch of eccentricity. Along the way, she dispenses her own inimitable brand of philosophy and humour for which there’s no charge.

I commissioned her to make a turquoise silk waistcoat and she later added a blue, purple and red shirt to my party wardrobe… But you couldn’t compare her with a traditional seamstress by any stretch of the imagination. For a start, she works at twice the speed. Recently, she came to my flat and made some curtains for the spare bedroom and at the same time mended my trousers and altered a jacket. It’s a bit like hokey-cokey – she takes up hems, lets waists in and out and generally shakes it all about. It all happens so fast that sometimes I think she’ll hang the trousers and ask me to wear the curtains.

I think of her more as an artist who uses her imagination to create unusual and lovely things. For example, I had a pair of white polo trousers which were outrageously tight. She let them out and had the clever idea of inserting a leather V, so know they’re both funky and highly practical. As well as being imaginative and creative, Louise is a complete perfectionist. I’d ripped the lining of a cashmere sports jacket to shreds and she mended it. Then she decided she wasn’t happy with her work, took it away and the jacket came back with a fantastic iridescent purple lining. Then I found that she’s put something in every pocket – a packet of seeds, a tube of Love Hearts, a tiny pack of cards. It was like pulling a Christmas cracker. Although I’ve no objection, she can be quite bossy. She’ll walk into my flat and say ‘I don’t like those cushions’ and take them away. When they come back they’ll have tassels or something different about them that is perfectly in tune with the rest of my furnishings.

She has the ability to take things that are ordinary and totally transform them. Then she disappears like Brigadoon for a couple of months. But next time she reappears I’m going to ask her to make costumes for Der Silbersee, an opera by Kurt Weill that I’ve been translating for production. I know the cast will get something special because I only have to put on that ludicrous silk dressing gown she made and I start strutting around like Noel Coward.’

 

Sally Ann Lasson, The Daily Telegraph, 1997
‘Despite Auberon Waugh’s constant lament to the contrary, you can’t get good staff these days; you just need to know where to look. Louise Verity is a seamstress par excellence, someone who will arrive on your doorstep with her sewing machine and quietly set about repairing all those things you think about fixing just before you fall asleep. She will patch up your sofas, take up your curtains to hide where the braiding has fallen off, make a tablecloth out of that bit of fabric you bought for the purpose three years ago…. But it wasn’t until she came to the flat that I realized quite how useful her services are. Spoilt for choice, I settled on a task that my local high street alteration shop, my mother, and my best friend had all tut-tutted about, as if I’d asked them to split the atom; namely, reduce my XL souvenir Monkee’s Reunion Tour T-shirt into a tiny, sexy thing of beauty. This she did without any fuss or bother and it looks splendid. You’ll all be wanting one now.’

 

Helen Kirwan-Taylor, Evening Standard, 2002
‘Those more accustomed to couture call Louise Verity. The former fashion designer, with clients such as George Michael, arrives on her bicycle, sewing machine in tow, and either whips up a little wedding dress (as she has been known to do) or restitches existing fashion garments. While she’s there, she’ll also mend the curtains and drum up some scatter cushions. “I’m like Mary Poppins,” she says.’

 

The World of Interiors, 1998
‘The cushion covers were made on location by Louise Verity, the very accomplished travelling seamstress… (she) will come to your house by bicycle, equipped with a sewing machine and an awesome box of buttons and threads and get on with all those things you still haven’t got around to doing, like taking up your curtains and repairing worn-out upholstery. How did we ever manage without her?’

 

Vogue, 1997
‘No job’s too chintzy for Louise Verity, the Mary Poppins of haberdashery. Verity arrives at your house by bicycle – with sewing machine in tow – to hang curtains, whizz up wedding dresses, make patchwork cusions and mend tired sofas. “I’m not a serious upholsterer,” explains Verity, “I just give something a few more years of life.” Her ultimate ambition? I’d love to rescue an old castle,” she beams, “I’d cycle to Scotland if need be!” ‘

 

Homes and Gardens, 1999
‘Louise Verity arrives on her bicycle armed with a sewing machine and tool box. Hems, zips and buttons are all seen to expertly and speedily. She will also fix your old curtains, fraying cushions…… “People don’t want to buy endless new things,” says Louise.’

 

 

MADE TO MEASURE 1981-2005

Crafts (US), 1988
‘Louise exhibited several silk waistcoats, but what really caught my eye was the most beautiful wedding dress I had ever seen. It was a patchwork of pale silks (herringbone style), fitted and embellished with dramatic tucking and beading. I was so in awe of her work….. She is one of those people you meet once in a lifestyle – a workaholic obsessed with the desire to create for art’s sake, and not so inspired by financial reward.’

 

Evening Standard, 1992
‘The racks of fluffy white wedding dresses which greet brides are enough to put anyone off getting hitched. Finding alternatives is an uphill task but Louise Verity has built her seven-year-old business on finding women who are looking for something else. “I don’t understand the market; it’s full of Victorian lampshades,” she says. Her outfits certainly break that mould. Although she is best known for her patchwork silk dresses she has also used silver paper and fabric painted with Madonnas. Verity continues: “I think that people should celebrate the day in their own way, not stick to uniforms.” ‘

 

Daily Mail, 1992
‘Carling’s Brilliant! Rugby Star Will Carling dazzled the Queen yesterday when he collected his OBE in an amazing technicolour waistcoat. The England captain cut a dash at the Palace in morning suit – and a fluorescent green, pink and blue silk little number. Will, 26, who was accompanied by parents Bill and Pam had the jacket made up specially for a friend’s wedding. He said: “I just thought it would brighten things up.” It certainly helped shake off Carling’s black label.’

 

Women’s Own, 1987
‘The world still looks to London’s up and coming designers for originality, flair and an uncompromising approach…. Whose clothes would make anyone stand out from the crowd. One time wardrobe mistress for the Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, costumier Louise Verity now creates for the woman who wants to make an entrance. “My clothes are theatrical but I’m not a princessy party dress designer,” says Louise, who is a great niece of Dame Ninette de Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet. The stylish, fitted dresses, embellished with dramatic tucking and beading she makes at her Battersea workshop are made initially in calico. The exclusive Lucienne Phillips shop in Knightsbridge is her only retail outlet. “I’m trying to get people away from little-girly clothes, especially when they get married.” True to form, her ingenious patchwork jackets have a Liasons Dangereuses air about them….. “Now there is a wonderful scope for drama in a waistcoat,” says Louise Verity.’

 

Brides Magazine, 1987
She claims that many of her ideas were picked up on her extensive childhood travels through Italy and France with her parents. While paying her way through art school, followed by the London College of Fashion, Louise worked in the costume department at Covent Garden, and certainly her dresses reflect this association with the stage. Some look almost Elizabethan, using tucking and beading extensively and to great effect. She also likes to combine different weights of fabrics, like organza and wool, and gives expert guidance to brides who know what style they want, but would like to experiment with different fabrics.

 

 

POP & THEATRE 1981-2005

“As a student I worked for the wardrobe department of the Royal Opera House. It was very pressured and they set the highest standards. But it was the best training for subsequent work for a diverse range of groups and individuals including the Pet Shop Boys, George Michael, East 17 and Iron Maiden. Being thrown a brief at seven in the evening with every expectation that the finished piece, or pieces, would be ready twelve hours later was seen as being quite reasonable. And so designing, pattern-making, cutting, sewing and finishing original pieces through the night became normal. Of course, it wasn’t, but I had a lot of fun and was often allowed a fairly free rein. I look back on some of those experiences with fond nostalgia. But I’m not sure I would do it again.”