The Scottish Ancestors Collection

The Scottish Ancestors Collection

A Journey of Heritage, Fabric, and Craftsmanship

This collection began as a deeply personal journey — one that intertwined family, heritage, and the timeless beauty of craftsmanship. The Scottish Ancestors Collection is a celebration of slow fashion, featuring handmade womenswear crafted from carefully sourced English fine wools, heritage tweeds, and luxurious French linens and wools.

It all started when my mother came to visit me in France for a few weeks. We spent our days together doing what we love most — exploring brocantes, flea markets, and Puces de Couturières events in search of rare and beautiful fabrics. These gatherings are treasure troves for designers and collectors alike — places where you can find remnants of couture history, fabrics once loved and cherished by generations of dressmakers.

One particularly memorable morning, we drove over an hour to a Puces de Couturières held in a quaint French village. The sun was shining as we arrived, and the community hall was filled with tables overflowing with fabrics, trims, and buttons. We bought a tombola ticket at the door — a charming local tradition — and began to wander through the stalls. Each table offered something unique: antique buttons, delicate lace, and rolls of the most exquisite textiles.

Then I met a woman whose stall quite literally stopped me in my tracks. She had over five tables covered in tweeds, wools, linens, felts, printed silks, and screen-printed velvets — all from her late mother’s couture workshop. Her mother, she told me, had been a designer in Moulins, a nearby city famous for its costume ateliers. I couldn’t resist. I bought as much as I could carry — then kept returning with more bags until the car was filled to the brim. Before we left, we exchanged numbers, and she invited me to visit the old workshop one day to discover more of her mother’s treasures.

That day, surrounded by my mother and these exquisite fabrics, I felt something stir inside me — a deep connection to craftsmanship, lineage, and legacy. It made me want to explore my own roots. Through my research, I discovered that my ancestors on my late father’s side came from Oban, a rugged and beautiful part of Scotland. The women there were known for their strength and resilience, tending to farms and facing the elements with grace and grit.

Inspired by them, The Scottish Ancestors Collection was born — a line of womenswear designed for modern-day warriors. The pieces are layered, sculptural, and protective — with high collars, structured silhouettes, and weather-resistant materials. Each garment embodies the spirit of those Scottish women: strong, elegant, and enduring.

Every fabric used in this collection carries a story — of the French couturière whose work lives on through her textiles, of the mother who helped me uncover them, and of the Scottish women whose legacy continues to inspire my designs. Together, they form a tapestry of history, craftsmanship, and love — the very essence of slow fashion.