A Woman of Substance | Lane Crawford

GABRIELA HEARST

OFF-SHOULDER VIRGIN WOOL-CASHMERE MELTON BUSTIER COAT

“My vision from the start was to create beautifully constructed timeless clothes for an active woman. She does not have time to change for the evening, she’s on the go and l want to provide solutions,” says Gabriela Hearst, 2017’s winner of the International Woolmark Prize.

Having grown up on a on a Uruguayan sheep ranch and with a natural, elegant beauty - Hearst is her own best advertisement. Her ethos is simple - design clothes that last.

“There are strong hints of my background in the brand. I went to a British school and wore a uniform every day and the traditional gaucho dress is also a uniform. Because lived in a place that was so remote, we had very few garments in our wardrobes but what we had was not ostentatious but good quality, it was bought to last,” says Hearst.

Hearst who divides her time between the family’s Uruguay ranch and New York (she is mother and stepmother to four children) brings the values of quality and sustainability into her eponymous brand that she launched in fall 2015.

Her award-winning Woolmark capsule collection sits alongside her main line (both available at Lane Crawford) and features her style signatures, including an elegant pleat skirt, trench coat, bomber jacket and off the shoulder tailored dress made in different weights of pure merino wool.

“Wool has benefited humans for thousands of years, but its qualities make it a fibre for the future.”

“Winning the International Woolmark Prize has such deep personal meaning, and I wish my father and grandfather were here to experience it with me. Sheep and wool were an integral part of their lives as ranchers,” she says.

“I wanted to showcase not only the functionality of wool, but also the fact that it can be ultra-luxurious. There is a misconception that wool can be itchy, but I wanted to show the alternative.”

Strong women serve as the main inspiration for her designs, and most recently, her ‘muse’ was the Italian WW2 journalist Oriana Fallaci. “She interviewed the most dangerous men on the planet, was not afraid of asking the hard questions and has so many qualities that I admire in a woman - she was tough and fearless. But underneath the toughness is always a sensitive human being,” says Hearst.

What could be a better metaphor for the strength and softness of wool?

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A Woman of Substance International Woolmark Prize winner Gabriela Hearst knows wool

“Wool has benefited humans for thousands of years, but its qualities make it a fibre for the future.”

“I wanted to showcase not only the functionality of wool, but also the fact that it can be ultra-luxurious. There is a misconception that wool can be itchy, but I wanted to show the alternative.”