Behind the Seams: Shanelle on By Neil Vernon.
'By Neil Vernon' emerging womenswear brand, has perfected the recipe with their timeless silhouettes and unique fabrications. Co-founder Shanelle George takes us behind the scenes of the brand's quaint studio in Sydney's Inner West.
PHILOSOPHY
Who are you?
Hi, I'm Shanelle! I am a co-founder of 'By Neil Vernon', a womenswear brand based in Sydney with my partner Josh. We’re focused on bridging the gap between femininity and functionality and how we can make women feel good but still deliver value in pieces.
Talk to us about the name behind the brand.
Neil Vernon Allan is the name of Josh’s dad. Josh's dad was a very hard working person and an inspiration. When Josh was younger, his dad passed away and on one of our first dates Josh talked about wanting to start a brand called ‘By Neil Vernon’ to pay tribute to him. Overtime, it became something that we worked on together. The spirit of Neil Vernon's name has more so fallen on who we are and our approach to the brand.
What led you to the 'femininity meets functionality' philosophy behind your brand?
A big part of it was me realising what I actually like for myself. I’m not a big spender when it comes to clothes, a lot of my pieces I buy at thrift stores and I’ll think, “okay how can I wear this in different ways?”. Being feminine but also functional is us trying to appeal to the mass market and not one specific niche.
BEGINNINGS
What was your first entry into the sewing world?
My first entry into the sewing world was through my grandma. I vividly remember this one time she visited Australia from India when I was 15 or 16. I was just getting into wearing bikinis and my mum wouldn’t buy me one, so I asked my grandma to sew one for me. We sat there and sewed this blue bikini together. My mum was like, “I didn’t say you could buy this” and I was like, “but I didn’t buy it!”.
Do you have a memory of the first item you sewed by yourself?
I remember I had the initial idea of wanting to sew corsets. One day, I went to the Salvos in St. Mary’s and someone had left corset patterns that were $1 each! I had this epiphany moment and I was blown away- it seemed too perfect to be true. I took them home and I had made a corset out of this blue cotton fabric. I remember when I put it on it made me feel so good.
JOURNEY
Having not studied fashion, where did you acquire your skills to navigate the fashion world?
I think I’m still learning. I have honestly learnt by looking at other brands and understanding how they got to where they are. Josh and I are also really into podcasts. It’s been a reflective process where we learn what they do and then apply it.
Your designs are timeless. How do you perfect that recipe?
I think it’s about identifying what silhouettes have stayed over the decades. If you think about trendy pieces, like those tops with excessive cut outs, we've seen them come into style in the past couple of years but did we see them on the runway 20+ years ago? Not really. It's considerations like this that go into it.
What advice do you have for creatives wanting to start a brand but may feel intimidated by the scene?
You have to be comfortable with being in a saturated landscape. You’ll never enter the fashion industry and be the only player. For new people coming in, if you have this understanding about yourself and how much work and effort you’re willing to put in, then you’re going to be okay with being amongst hundreds of other competitors. Overtime, people will drop out so if you’re willing to stand the test of time then you’ll come out on top.
