Charlotte Simone on the Taylor Swift Effect, Her Upcoming Drop, and Wanting to See Celine Dion in One of Her Coats

Over Super Bowl weekend, Taylor Swift stepped out in Charlotte Simone’s Billie jacket to grab dinner with Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim in New Orleans. It wasn’t the first time the singer had worn one of the young British designer’s pieces; she’d previously been photographed arriving at Arrowhead Stadium to cheer on boyfriend Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs in the brand’s red Lulu faux fur coat. “Just personally, as a Swiftie, that’s been really exciting,” Simone recently told Vanity Fair.

Swift is far from the first star to outfit herself in Simone’s limited-edition designs: Madonna, Rita Ora, Dua Lipa, Charli XCX, and Lena Dunham have all been spotted wearing Charlotte Simone. Born and based in London, the designer initially studied English at New York University with aspirations of becoming a journalist before pivoting to fashion. When she started her brand in 2015, Simone focused on outerwear inspired by her grandmother and vintage and classic silhouettes. After the challenges of COVID-19 led her to implement a more sustainable drop model, Simone saw exponential growth—and a steady demand—for her unique pieces that are meant to last a lifetime.

In advance of her latest drop, Simone recently spoke with Vanity Fair about her inspirations and the power of celebrity influence.

Vanity Fair: How did the design for your signature coat come about? Was there a person or character that inspired you to create it ?

Charlotte Simone: I feel like my grandma is kind of always on my mood board. She had a great wardrobe and great coats. But also lots of thrifting and kind of always being drawn to those like vintage and classic silhouettes that feel like they flatter every sort of shape and appeal to a wide age group of women as well. I always try, when I’m designing, to try and draw inspiration from a vintage and or more classic silhouette, and then a bit of a modern touch on it with color and or print. I think that’s the appeal.

What was the first design where you said to yourself, “This is it, this is going to be my signature?”

I feel like it’s a lot of being drawn to things I love, like textures and colors. I feel like we are recognized for leopard print, pinks, fun and fluffy textures. For me and my personal style, I’m always gravitating towards jeans and like basic tee and trainers. But I was always looking for a statement piece or an accessory to kind of elevate an everyday look. So that is also what I really want “Charlotte Simone” to be. Something that you can go from day to night and instantly feel like “my look has changed” or “my look instantly feels elevated.” And that’s always what I try to do with the design, simple, but statement at the same time. I take a lot of inspiration from London and just general street style as well. I really look at those girls that make your head turn in the street. London’s got a certain cool girl factor, which I really try to inject into my designs as well and give it that energy.

How did you decide on a drop model?

It was really during COVID when I had a very traditional business model prior, and then pretty much within 48 hours, I lost all of my business and was like, “oh wow, I’m going to have to sink or swim here.” I pivoted quite quickly to try and sell the samples and stock that I had in my office with my iPhone. I would sell on my Instagram using just a picture that I would take of the coat that we were designing. By doing that, I realized that over time, I’d been in business about six or seven years, I had amassed a community of people who were still supportive and interested in supporting Charlotte Simone. And more importantly, they loved the fact that I was showing them pieces that were sort of like one of a kind or limited edition. That’s really when the idea twigged. I thought, hang on a second, this can be a really exciting and incredibly more fulfilling way to move forward. And that’s how it’s been going since.

Was sustainability on your mind when you established that new model for releasing products?

It’s funny because the one thing that COVID did was it really gave me that time to reflect, like it really was, what am I going to do? Am I just going to stop? Is this going to cease to exist? It just gave me that time to actually reflect on what it is that I was doing. And whilst I was doing that, I was like, “wow, I actually feel like I’ve been a really busy fool.” I’ve been so busy that I’ve kind of lost sight of why I started. Sometimes with fashion, you’re on this hamster wheel and you’re constantly going, from season to season and not thinking or not pausing to reflect. I had a lot of time to think about what it is that I wanted to do and what I wanted Charlotte Simone to be. So at that time I realized I wanted to consider sustainability. I want to consider what products and materials I’m bringing and how I can make a mark and how I can sustain this business. By taking those decisions, I feel like it has definitely resonated with people. I myself as a consumer like to buy pieces that will sit in my wardrobe season after season. I don’t want to have something to wear on the weekend and dispose of it. So that is definitely rooted in Charlotte Simone, this idea of taking our time and when you buy it, hopefully it will be worth the wait because you can wear it and enjoy it time and time again.

Was there a single moment that propelled Charlotte Simone to where it is now?

For me, it feels like just hard work for a really long time. At the start of my career, I did a collaboration with Rita Ora’s stylist at the time. As I did a collaboration, she decided to be the face of the campaign just because. I definitely didn’t have the funds to have her as a campaign girl, she just really liked the product and wanted to support us, and that was a huge deal for me. That definitely put my name on the map in London at the time, and was a really exciting collaboration. Since then, I would say Taylor Swift has definitely been the biggest celebrity to date [that has worn Charlotte Simone], in a way of just seeing immediate movement on our site and our stats. She’s probably moved the needle for us the most in terms of seeing something directly. Stat wise, with Taylor Swift, sales in the US increased 220% and subscribers increased by 140%. I think we saw close to about 10,000 subscribers in maybe a couple of days, which was pretty insane.

Who else would you love to see wear Charlotte Simone?

I actually have always wanted Lena Dunham to wear the brand and she just wore a coat. I’m also a huge Celine Dion fan. I hold out hope for Celine Dion, although that seems out of reach.

Not at all! Put that out into the universe and manifest that; she’s also a fashion girl. Have you ever thought about adding any extensions to the brand, like more ready-to-wear or accessories?

I have thought about expanding into more accessories. But I feel very strongly that unless it’s something really different that’s already out there and that feels authentically Charlotte Simone, I don’t want to do it. I really want to believe in the products and it feels right. And that’s sort of why it hasn’t happened yet. I feel like in the short term, I’m more excited about expanding into more coats and jackets that we’ve just put our toe in the pond. So for example, puffer jackets or more leathery, bomber style, like aviator type jackets, things within that world. There’s many touchpoints to explore that we haven’t done yet. So that’s where my immediate focus is going for now.

Is this new drop a celebration of anything in particular?

No, so we do two winter drops, one in September and one at the end of November. And then this drop is a way that kind of supports the business and allows us to be sustainable. So this is called the archive and this drop is where we sell all of our development pieces, one of a kind samples and surplus stock press pieces, etc. The drops for winter one and winter two are very curated and there are maybe only 12 to 14 styles. The archive is all of our development pieces, so there’s about 150 coats. Our customers, particularly the ones that have followed for a long time, get really excited because it’s the one time of year that you can buy something that really only maybe one other person can also buy.

What’s next for the brand?

It’s really putting our heads down and starting to dig deep on research, design and development for next winter. It’s such a lengthy process that we’ll start to sort of close up creative and plan for the following year. So that’s where I will be getting my teeth into. In terms of what’s next for winter, like I mentioned, I’m really excited about pushing the puffer jacket category. We introduced a pleather bomber last year, called the Frankie, and it was one of our newest styles that sold out really quickly in the first hour. Our signature styles tend to sell out fast, so for me, that was like a huge green flag marker for our customers to be really excited about this silhouette, this fabrication and this general direction. So I’m really looking forward to kind of going more into that.

Instagram content

This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.

What do you do when you’re not designing?

It’s funny because being in a small team and a business owner, obviously you have to wear a lot of hats. So I find when I set in my diary “design day,” it just never is. So I feel like it’s more like a rolling ball of moss. It’s more like I’ll just go into a zone. I’ll be inspired by anything. My dad likes to leave letters on my desk and I find them quite sweet and I like to pin them on my board. I’ll find a picture, I’ll put it on my board. I’ll watch a film, I’ll see a quote. I’m a very visual person, so by my desk I have two huge canvas pin boards and I have one for drop one and one for drop two. I like to separate my thoughts and I like to print everything. I like to cut everything out. I really like to touch things, I’m actually not on my computer that much, I really do like pens and writing that’s kind of how I like to work. It’s like anything and everything. Right now my mood board, I’ve got like, models, I’ve got a piece of tapestry that I like. I just love the colors. I also like nail varnish. Nail varnish has great names. Sometimes when I feel really dull, I’ll go to a nail bar and I’ll look at all of the nail varnish names and it just makes me feel like I’m back!

Is there a brand that you find has the best names?

Essie has the best.