JANE HARDY INTERVIEW Hope Macaulay

Jane Hardy

is a feature writer who has interviewed a few of the big names from Arlene Foster to Mrs Thatcher.

Uber-glamorous supermodel Gigi Hadid, known for her work as muse for labels such as Dior and Calvin Klein, was spotted recently in a supermarket wearing a Hope Macaulay knit. This fashion event inevitably ended up in the press. Macaulay, the 24-yearold Coleraine designer, creator of rainbow-coloured bespoke knitted Merino wool jackets like the Wonderland Chunky Knit in question, explains how it came about:

“Gigi Hadid’s stylist reached out to me via email, though I think they found me on Instagram, saying, ‘Could you loan or gift me an outfit?’ “ Success breeds success and Hope adds: “I ended up giving Gigi Hadid one of my pieces, the one that ended up in the supermarket. Then her sister Bella got in touch via a friend, asking for something for her personal wardrobe. I thought, ‘That’s crazy and so exciting!’’

Clearly knitwear has moved on from the serviceable navy M&S cardi. Now it can be edgy, high fashion, arty and inevitably big business. A typical Hope Macaulay hand made, say the Paradise Colossal Knit Jacket (£380) is a wrap-around number that, like most of its fellow knitted creations, re-defines chunky. There’s a pleasing, surprising contrast between the form, with the raised yarn forming a pattern, and the colours. Macaulay’s palette is pastel with magical pale blues, soft yellow, white and often pink. “Yes, I nearly always put in a bit of baby pink, as it’s my favourite colour.”

One of the designer’s couture heroes is the late Alexander McQueen, known as the “hooligan of the English catwalk” and famed for super outré pieces like the Bird’s Nest Headdress made by collaborator Philip Treacy. Hope recalls her mother Lesley, now a lynchpin of the Macaulay knitting team round Northern Ireland, dragging her to a McQueen exhibition when they were in New York in 2010. “I said, ‘Why do we have to go? I don’t want to wait in this big queue.’ But then we went inside, and I saw all his works and I understood.”

Although Hope Macaulay has only been trading since 2018, already her work has been in Vogue and other key magazines. After London Fashion Week 2019, one of her outfits ended up in the fashion bible’s style slot. “Harper SiLin wore one of my big knitted jumpers and one of my printed dresses. The blogger was caught by a photographer shooting for Vogue and ended up being their Best Street Style.”

She says that during The Australian Open, tennis star Naomi Osaka wore some of her knitwear for a GQ fashion shoot. Not only did the Hope Macaulay outfit make it into the magazine, chosen from the armfuls of designer wear that are supplied to such events, it reached the coveted number one spot, rather like its wearer. In other words, it made the cover. “She wore one of my Paradise Colossal knits from my Knits of Paradise line, which has lots of greens. I didn’t get my hopes up but when they told me it had made the feature and the cover, that was incredible.”

This fashion story started when Hope Macaulay graduated from the Creative Arts College at Rochester in Kent. Although Hope says her love of knitting began when her granny taught her to knit-one purl-one. “My granny taught me to knit little scarves at the age of six.”

Her enthusiasm for wool’s potential stepped up a gear at college. “When I went to university, I experimented with different techniques. I watched videos on YouTube and in my final year, created a graduate collection which included a giant knitted multi-coloured coat.” And Hope’s coat of many colours launched her brilliant career. “One of my tutors told me I should do more work like that.” But initially, the work was primitive compared to the fine items that will be on show postpandemic in Hope Macaulay’s new Coleraine studio. She says modestly: “Looking back now, it wasn’t that well made.”

The current Hope Macaulay range, which includes quirky patterned dressed and jackets, accessories like square rhinestone glass frames (“That’s my Dolly Parton moment!”), is finished to an extremely high standard. And the knitted designs, which range from cardigans and wrap-arounds to cheeky crop tops, is produced by 15 home knitters using a special technique. As Hope explains: “It involves hand-knitting, using no needles, and I had to teach everyone during the pandemic via videos and email.”

As she says, the knitwear brand is in a couture category all of its own. “I love the chunkiness, it’s 100% Merino wool, apart from the vegan range, and I love colour. My mother always wore bright colours and dressed us in them. But there was one outfit, with a leaf pattern, that made me look like a little tree and I said ‘I’m not wearing that, Mum’.”

On her Spring Summer 2021 range, ie now, which contains green as an on-trend shade (but no leaves), she says: “They’re luxury, handmade items.” They add a distinctive style to people round the world, including at least one South Korean girl band. If you want a less expensive Hope Macaulay outfit, the vegan items come in nylon and a biodegradable yarn at off-the-peg prices.

The clothes have an art history edge, too. Alice in Wonderland

Hope pictured with her mum Lesley, older sister Beth, and father Tony Macaulay. Tennis star Naomi Osaka wearing Hope Macaulay knitwear on the cover of GQ.

morphs into Disorder in Wonderland. “I like surrealism, also things that are trippy, asymmetrical, like Vivienne Westwood’s work. I want my line to be both art and wearable. Psychologically I think wearing bright colours lifts you too. In college, we did a module on black and white and it was so boring.”

Actor Bronagh Waugh has been a fan from the start. “She’s such a big supporter of mine, having seen my graduate collection. She wore one of my mini-dresses with a print jacket with lots of embellishments to an awards ceremony in Paris and one of the long catwalk dresses to an awards show in Belfast.”

The Hope Macaulay brand has no Brexit problems as it benefi ts from the unique Northern Irish economic situation and still enjoys some EU trade rules. Lockdown has also brought benefi ts, as Hope explains: “There was a big move towards craft and lots of people started knitting, so I was swept along with that.”

The star designer gains help with long days (“I work late on Instagram”) from photographer older sister Beth who assists with shoots. They come from a creative family as father Tony Macaulay is the author of Paperboy. Hope’s boyfriend Josh is also involved. “We’ve known each other since we were teenagers and kept together when I was away. He works for me now, transporting stuff for me, keeping the studio in good shape.”

Hope’s got an American online project in the pipeline and her ambition is to get into shops when they reopen. “Saks Fifth Avenue and Selfridges or Harrods in London, that would be amazing.” You read it here fi rst.

“I like surrealism, also things that are trippy, asymmetrical, like Vivienne Westwood’s work. I want my line to be both art and wearable.”