In March 1993, Victoria Stapleton founded the luxury Scottish fashion brand, Brora. Its focus then was on locally made cashmere in fabulous colours. Thirty years on, the head-to-toe brand is deeply rooted in the landscape of British fashion and still famous for its quality and colour.
Tales of its loyal fanbase abound. A customer recently sent the Brora team a picture timeline of her wearing a 25-year-old Brora cardigan over the years. The cardigan remained the same, while the lady aged gracefully (and only just visibly) over decades of wear.
To celebrate its 30th birthday, Brora has produced a stunning heritage collection, modelled by the luminous Georgia May Jagger (whose mother, it turns out, gives her a present from Brora every year).
Here, Victoria Stapleton reflects triumphantly on Brora’s journey.
What was it like starting up 30 years ago?
I remember sitting in my bedroom surrounded by boxes and boxes of cashmere. The phone was ringing off the hook for two days as The Financial Times had just said Brora had the best cashmere around – and my home number was in the paper.
With no internet, people were ringing in to request the ‘black cashmere jumper’ that Lucia van der Post had recommended as the one to buy in the How To Spend It feature.
For the first two years, I wrapped every parcel myself and went to the post office for 5pm every day, much to the exasperation of the person in the queue behind me.
What inspired the 30th anniversary collection?
Putting this collection together was an incredible trip down memory lane. I spent the day with my design team looking through every catalogue from 30 years of Brora. We stuck pieces of paper on the styles we loved, eventually whittling it down to just one piece from each year as a starting point.
What inspires your design process?
I like to get to as many exhibitions as I can, slipping into art galleries in odd places. Often, an exhibition will be the catalyst for the seasonal colour palette. David Hockney at the RA and Paula Rego at the Tate were two such shows. Another love is ceramics – old sponge ware, as well as Portuguese pottery, often triggers my imagination.
How have you altered the company over the years to make it more environmentally friendly?
Fortunately, when I started Brora, it was all about Scottish textiles. For the first ten years, all our suppliers were in the UK, mainly up north. As we developed a larger collection, we started sourcing from incredible mills around Europe. My daughters constantly challenge us and suggest ways in which we can do things better.
After our full carbon audit in 2020, we had a much better idea of our strengths and weaknesses. It was satisfying to discover we weren’t too far from reaching our earth-friendly goals due to my founding values of using natural materials and making our pieces close to home. But we still strive for better standards at every turn.
What is Brora’s ethos?
I hope our customers and employees alike feel the overall ethos of the company fits with the life values I hold dear: friendliness, family orientation and quality over quantity. Our customer service is naturally open and non-judgmental. You never know what is going on in a customer’s life when they walk into your shop, so you use your emotional intelligence to gauge what sort of service they’re after. My worst thing is a pushy retailer!
How is life with five kids and a fashion business?
Well, it’s fun! I have five wonderful, creative muses – all with very individual style. They are my constant inspiration – so much so that later this year we’re launching a capsule collection in collaboration with two of them. Watch this space…
How do you feel Brora has changed you as a person since 1993?
I have a confident sense of my own style now, and how I like to dress, and the collections reflect this. When Covid came, I surprised myself. I thought: if this is the end of Brora, it has been a wonderful journey and the circumstances are outside my control. As it happens, we made some good decisions and Brora is more resilient today than ever before. Hooray to that!
Image credits:
Navy Supersoft Wool Folk Fair Isle Waistcoat, £195; inspired by 2013
Parakeet Cashmere Fair Isle Trim Cardi, £449; Navy Cashmere Sleeveless Polo Neck, £315 (just seen), White Organic Cotton Embroidered Skirt, £169; inspired by 2014, 2000 & 2008
Peony & Cherry Cashmere Textured Tank, £295; Peony & Cherry Cashmere Contrast Trim Cardigan, £375; Summer Black Gauzy Linen Frill Skirt, £185; inspired by 2006, 1997 & 2019
Parakeet & Cobalt Textured Cashmere Tank, £295; Midnight Star Print Silk Dress, £345; inspired by 2010 & 2007
Swallow Mohair Wave Knit Cardigan, £195; inspired by 2017
French Navy Cashmere Ribbed Stripe Jumper, £329; inspired by 1996
All available at brora.co.uk and in all Brora stores worldwide.
By Becky Ladenburg
March 2023
