The very chic Jane Pendry started off her career as a fashion journalist, writing for the likes of Vogue and WWD and as a creative director designing accessories for fashion houses from Yves Saint Laurent to Givenchy, and Ralph Lauren. A stylish background indeed and with all that know-how, she decided to go solo and establish her own label, Dovima Paris in 2013.
A very beautiful brand inside and out, the Dovima Paris clothing line is contemporary and fun, then there’s the dash of drama that lures you in. Pieces are also ethically made using, as you’d expect, haute couture techniques of her past.
Felicity Carter: What was your first fashion memory?
Jane Pendry: A long dress and floppy hat from BIBA in London when I was about 6 or 7 years old. It was a sort of Ikat print in peacock blue and yellow, with bell sleeves and a long tie-neck in a soft printed cotton. That dress was so beautiful and I would wear it today. The very wide-brimmed floppy hat was in colored straw. I had pleaded with my parents to receive something, anything from BIBA as a birthday present and I can still remember the utter joy of opening that box. BIBA was a total dreamland for a fashion-obsessed child – the store was totally art-deco inspired, dark and moody and the coolest thing ever. And the displays were so imaginative – you wanted everything. Barbara Hulaniki created the brand in the ’60s and she was the first person to ever do lifestyle retailing. It was all totally magical and seductive. They produced mini versions of grown-up clothes and my mother had lots of BIBA. I thought I was the bee’s knees!!! I was so happy to be my mother’s mini-me and above all, to be a BIBA girl, which was a thing. Apparently, Anna Wintour’s first job was being a salesgirl at BIBA.
FC: How did your brand come about?
JP: After a career spent first as a fashion journalist at both WWD and Vogue, and then as a creative director designing accessories for Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy with both John Galliano and Alexander McQueen, and finally at Ralph Lauren, I started to feel that fashion was becoming uniquely about branding and not enough about the women wearing the clothes. Having worked for so long on accessories (must admit to having an enviable shoe closet) I wanted up-to-date, chic, distinctive, compliment-worthy but easy, wearable clothes – those “best friends” in your closet – that make you feel great and confident and that can be dialed up or down depending on what shoes, or jewelry, or bag or belt you put with it. I like my clothes to earn their keep in my closet and hoped that other women would feel as I did. Luckily I seemed to strike a cord, and because I like to think my clothes are fashionable without being gimmicky, my clients, happily keep coming back.
FC: What are the cornerstones of your brand?
JP: Making women look and feel fabulous and enjoy the experience of dressing, whilst also not having to fuss in the clothes. I learned from Monsieur Saint Laurent that style is about forgetting what you are wearing. Dovima Paris is a luxury brand for now in which I endeavor to combine traditional elements of Haute Couture with a very modern appreciation of today’s needs and values. I like pieces that have to been seen and touched and tried on, and that really function as well as being desirable. A small alteration to a skirt or sleeve length, to make it just right for the woman wearing it, can make something totally flattering and really wow. I know I love to receive a compliment about what I am wearing, and so figure that my clients are the same. It is also very important to me to have everything made in France, with manufacturers I trust and who train their workers and provide good, safe working conditions and pay a proper wage. The Couture houses I worked for gave me so much – it just feels right to help the industry here continue.
FC: How would you sum up the aesthetic of your label?
JP: Up-to-date, chic, simple but distinctive clothes with a really good flattering cut, great fabrics, sumptuous colors, lots of careful detailing, wonderful quality, ease of wear, no zippers, and only covered buttons – all the better for the jewelry and other accessories to stand out!
FC: Who is your customer?
JP: Mothers, daughters, grandmothers, sisters, friends…we all need round-the-clock great clothing.
FC: What’s the favorite aspect of your job?
JP: Meeting and fitting my customers. It’s so delightful to see someone look fantastic in the clothes that you have designed. I have a personal relationship with my designs AND with my clients, who have helped me immensely towards understanding what they need, about their lives, plus they are super nice and fun and kind and helpful. I have learned so much from them and consider our clients our greatest achievement.
FC: Tell us about what you have coming up…
JP: There is a new capsule coming for The SIL, a website we work with who shares our vision of compliment worthy wearable clothes and we are planning an extension to the brand because the question I get asked more than any other by my customers is “How does this travel?”.
Shop the brand exclusively at shopthesil.com and learn more on dovimaparis.com.
