House Of Poulton makes a splash with ‘Jacaranda’

Fashion designer and founder of the House Of Poulton, Melisa Poulton’s newest collection ‘Jacaranda’ has made waves since its launch recently.

Poulton sat down with The Namibian to give insight into the new offering, inspired by the jacaranda tree, known for its distinctive long-lasting violet-coloured flowers.

She aimed to explore different techniques to incorporate into her brand and design style, she says of the collection created for women from their mid-20s to late-40s.

“I have done many collections over the years, but most of my collections are inspired by the five earth elements and anything around nature. We had ‘Earth’, ‘Fire’, ‘Water’, ‘Rainbow’, ‘Safari Earth’, ‘Into The Wild’ and now ‘Jacaranda’.

“Each collection that I launch is there to be built on the future, for it to be broadened and more elements to be added to it, that’s why I choose specific names for each collection so that over many years it can tell different stories of different elements. These collections become a part of my brand aesthetic.”

Poulton said this time around, she wanted to tell a story in two chapters, with chapter one done in collaboration with multi-award winning musician and medical doctor Latoya Mwoombola, aka Lioness.

The ready-to-wear collection consists of 10 pieces inspired by the root, bark, branches and leaves of the tree, while chapter two was the blooming flower, a 20 piece collection.

“For chapter one, we wanted the collection to give the feel of the bark and roots of the tree. So we did some patch work and used different sewing techniques on the fabric to create a new type of fabric design. For chapter two, I wanted the dresses to give the illusion of a flower and some pieces, the illusion of the jacaranda flower. Also using different techniques and placing handmade flowers on the dresses,” Poulton said.

Poulton refers to this collection as a passion collection. She said she enjoyed working on this collection as a lot of passion and effort went into it.

She is also proud that many people respect the amount of time and work that has been put into it.

“This collection will always be a part of the brand and many more collections will come in the future which we can build on and add more elements and techniques to.

“This collection is very different from my previous collection, ‘Into the Wild’, with the zebra print being the main element. The zebra print will also become a part of the House of Poulton’s signature prints. The ‘Jacaranda’ collection was more fluffy, more girly and had more techniques to it, while ‘Into the Wild’ was more structured and featured more ready to wear items,” she said.

Pieces from the collection are available to rent or buy.

Poulton said although most of the pieces have already been bought, others can be remade on request.

She is already busy with new projects she aims to work on over the next couple of years, such as mentorship programmes, creating a designer hub, plus-size collections, an online store and selling products in South Africa.