Minna Hepburn

With delicate fabrics, from silk and chiffon to antique lace, Minna Clothing creates real green feminine fashion. But scratch any hippy expectations. The materials may be organic and ethically sourced, painstakingly restored and recycled, but these fairtrade pieces are far too chic for tree hugging. Think more of an ethereal nature goddess; less of the hemp cloth.

Don’t just take our word for it, either. This green girl is hot property. Minna has been championed by fashion mags everywhere, with spots in Vogue, Elle and Grazia – and countless others. Just check the honour roll that is her blog page.

Her pieces are not just available on her online store, but from Regent Street’s Anthropologie, the Guardian‘s Ethical Store, FashionConscience.com…all over.  And if fashion industry nods float your boat, London Fashion Council’s eco sustainable initiative, Esthetica, has held Minna up as an ethical fashion marque to watch.

So it was with some excitement that we met the Finnish designer behind the magic, Minna Hepburn, to chat about her work.

It was Earth Day but Hepburn doesn’t really feel the need for ethical debate, or to fight the green fight when it comes to her designs. After all, as she rightly says, her collection doesn’t really look like ‘ethical fashion’. And in any case, a green label can get pigeonholed; why ethical lines should have to fight for mainstream exposure is beyond her. Good design is good design: ‘It shouldn’t be separate,’ she insists. ‘It’s not “tree hugging hippy” any more!’

Besides, to think in an ethical way comes naturally to this designer. It’s not a pose, ‘because in Finland, fashion is expensive. You think about it more.’  There’s not so much of the throwaway, consumer culture you get in London, it seems. Not that Hepburn is wholly against London’s high street binge habits. Before setting up Minna Clothing, both the women’s wear and children’s wear lines, Hepburn ran a successful label, which sold in the biggest high street store of them all: Topshop. The label, SE5 was named after the area she and her family live, and had more of ‘an edgy street feel’ than her current collections, she says. But definitely still feminine: the best of your ‘silky pink dresses in Topshop!’

She didn’t study fashion design at university, instead, rather impressively, studying War and International Relations at King’s College in London. This meant bringing her own label to markets and the high street was the best way for Hepburn to learn how the fashion trade worked.

‘If you don’t go the school route, you have to do it another way,’ she explains. ‘Through the big shops, or markets…I had my time at Spitalfields Market, shivering!’

Hepburn knows how important the groundwork is. Her trademark lace for instance, comes from a Scottish supplier with whom she has a very close working relationship, and she works hard to establish good connections with stockists, industry heads, and the press. Because, as she says, ‘If people don’t know your name, shops don’t want to know you.’

‘It’s not just about making pretty dresses. It’s about building a business.’

Well, we disagree. Make dresses as beautiful as these, we say, and the business will take care of itself! Minna is a name to get to know.