SALLY BOHAN

London born designer Sally Bohan has been a behind the scenes unit of some of the most respected brands of fashion today. Her most recent position was maintaining the womenswear for Nike's NSW collection but now sh moves on to pastures new and


Name: Sally Bohan
Age: 27
Hometown: London, UK
Now lives: Portland, OR, USA

What did you want to be when you were a kid?
I went to my friend Hannah’s 8th birthday party as a Fashion designer. (I was wearing C&A jean shorts over snoopy leggings, some black sateen shoes from Woolies, a velvet scrunchie and a sequined bandeau top).

Have you always been into street/sportswear?
Growing up in North London between Arsenal and Tottenham, there was a huge streetwear influence; and a sportswear influence - mostly from the football. I was obsessed with having the ‘best’ Nike’s when I was a teenager. My friends got robbed for their trainers, there was such a cache attached to them. You knew not to wear new Nike’s to Wood Green shopping centre. I’d be that kid in a tracksuit and Air Max, but once I got older and more into apparel design, my wardrobe got less lairy and more minimal. Streetwear will always influence my design process though. It is integral to any kind of contemporary apparel design in my opinion.

I know you used to intern at legendary style mag, The Face, before it closed.....tell us about your career path - education, internships, first jobs....
I sent off my CV to The Face when I was 16. I faxed it over (no email then) with a picture of a Hot Rod on the front that I got from Microsoft clipart. Anthony Unwin, the then Fash Ed’s Asst, really liked the car picture, so he rang me.
I started interning every Summer, and on weekend’s I’d help out on shoots for the Face, Pop, Numero and Arena. During fashion week I’d work as a dresser for the shows Katie Grand or Anthony were styling. My first show was Luella Bartley. I remember her spray painting all our Chuck Taylor’s fluoro pink. It was that ‘era’. From there I ended up helping out any time I wasn’t at school or working. Eventually Katie left and Anthony became the Fash Ed so I got to assist more seriously and travel more extensively. They even started paying for my travel card! It was an awesome time. I was there on and off for 5 years.

I did Textiles all through school, and did A-Level’s in Art, Textiles & Media Studies. I went to Chelsea Art College for Foundation/BTEC in Art & Design, specialising in Fashion Textiles. I studied Fashion at Brighton University, I liked the course because they took 15 people per year vs the London Inst schools who took hundreds. The tuition was more focused and the facilities were better than most schools I’d looked at. That was important to me because I always wanted to experiment. I spent my 3rd year in industry. I interned at Alexander McQueen and for Hussein Chalayan during his stint as Creative Director at Asprey, and also in his own studio in East London. I also worked for Kei Kagami. I learned so much in this time. I spent 2 solid weeks sewing ruffles on a McQueen showpiece, each ruffle had to be hand dyed  to create a rainbow effect in the finished piece. I had to color in a McQueen corset with biro moments before it was sent off to Anna Wintour because the stripes needed to be black not grey for her shoot and they found biro worked best. Katie England also once got me to create a free machine embroidery piece based on toilet graffitti (including ‘for free sex call’ & many, many pictures of genitals). My friend who worked at the store told me it ended up on a pair of jeans.

Asprey was an amazing experience because it was this calm, clean studio space – total contrast to any environment I’d ever worked in. I worked with Cass Dicker, she used to head up Pattern cutting at Central St Martins but left to work as Hussein’s studio head. I learned an amazing amount from her. Anyone who can cut Hussein’s patterns is clearly gifted. She is an amazing individual.

With Kei I got to work with an ironmonger and some unique materials. His heavily architectural approach to fashion was refreshing. He saw clothes & shoes as buildings.

I graduated with honours. Luckily I loved doing my dissertation, but I fumbled my way through my Business Studies plan. I’m glad I did though, I still think getting good grades shows ambition & an ability to persevere. This approach doesn’t work for everyone though, that’s for sure.

How did you get the Nike job?
I took a job in America upon graduation for Abercrombie & Fitch doing denim in Columbus, Ohio. I’ve always been a massive fan of doing the unexpected; in order to diversify after growing up in London and never working for a high street designer/company I figured why not flip that and move to the middle of nowhere and go commercial.
I think paying off my student loan also figured into this... I lasted about a year. The hours were brutal and it was a really oppressive environment. I continued to work on my portfolio and kept my CV up to date.

I learned about denim and I learned that I never wanted to work for a company that mainstream again. I got a call from Nike around this time, because my CV was up on a recruitment website and I had sent it out to several agencies, I am always incredibly proactive in putting myself out there and looking for new opportunities in the industry. I went out to interview at Nike, met the team, everyone was really wicked, then I was offered a job on the spot by the Creative Director. I said yes, and was there for 4 years. It was a brilliant time in my career.

What makes you think about London?
Multiculturalism. In music, in arts, in community, in politics - in general. I miss diversity.

Working for a huge global brands is daunting, are you ever aware of the impact you have on the daily lives of your consumers?
In our designs we tried to offer those consumers as many benefits as possible - so they are always on our minds, and we regularly had focus groups or meet with influential consumers as well as working on projects such as key collaborators.

What brands do you admire?
A.P.C.
Visvim
Acne
BLESS

What are your thoughts on girls streetwear brands?
As a designer I am always disappointed when I see it in the flesh because the make/finishing is so bad. It seems a lot of the people running these brands don’t know much about apparel. There’s a ‘slap a graphic on it and do it in bright colours’ approach. I would like to see someone step it up and offer the same level of craftsmanship in a hoody as is applied to any other item in the industry at that price point.

From a cultural perspective, I think it’s really positive to see more women’s-specific streetwear brands competing in the market. It all seems very East Coast USA-specific, it would be nice to see some stronger European and Asian brands out there too.

What kind of girl do you design for?
She’s not from one specific culture, she’s globally-minded, she is very culturally aware and proactive in seeking out what is new. She works in a creative industry. She appreciates sportswear, but integrates it very sparingly into her wardrobe. She appreciates innovation that doesn’t sacrifice design.

Whats the future for you?
To look for new innovations, to keep pushing the boundaries, to keep elevating and remastering design. I never stop learning, that’s what I love about my job.

Can you name your TOP 5 FAVE right now?

1. The “MacGuffin Library” project

2. Ron Raffaelli and Nicole Avril’s photography book “Extases”

3. Kilties (fringed tongue that flaps over a shoe instep)

4. I quite fancy Michael Leon

5. Martin d’Orgeval’s book “Touched by Fire”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEO CACKETT

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