You all came from slightly different backgrounds. How has this informed the direction that Colville has taken?
Molly: I worked with Lucinda on womenswear and Kristin was working on menswear at Marni, so we’ve been work colleagues and friends. When we left Marni, we knew we wanted to continue our professional relationship, because we worked so well together and we knew that it wasn’t a risk.
We just wanted to create a wardrobe of ours, of things we loved and wanted to wear, and in Colville there’s something from all of us that comes together in a unique voice.
Lucinda: What’s really interesting is that we’ve all had different experiences that we bring into it. Kristin coming from menswear had the eye for tailoring and details, Molly is also an artist so she illustrates, and I’m on the photographic side, coming from a magazine.
Even though it’s all different, Colville has its own identity that it’s bigger than any of us individually. I find that really wonderful, that it has a very distinct voice, almost like a fourth person.
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The brand is named after Colville Street in West London—where did that idea come from?
Molly: It was where David Hockney lived and frequented, so we chose the name because it’s associated with him and a sense of creativity, but also because it looked so great. The type is beautiful graphically, it looks elegant and strong and doesn’t feel English or Italian, or masculine or feminine, it could be French but it isn’t.
It has the connotation of strength. We were really lucky—in the beginning, when we registered the name, they said to choose another name because it’d likely be taken.
Lucinda: I couldn’t imagine it being called anything else now.
Kristin: There were other names thrown around, but I’m so glad we didn’t have to use them. We thought about using our surnames and it just didn't sound right. It sounded like a detective agency.
