We Visited Designer Kathryn Bowen In-Studio to Talk About Her Fall 2018 Collection

by Jacquelyn Francis July 18, 2018

Walking into Kathryn Bowen‘s second floor Toronto studio, I instantly forget that a) the city is cleaning up after a massive freak snowstorm (it’s mid-April at the time of our meeting) and b) that Bowen is an emerging designer.

Judging from her space which is filled with books, artwork (by stylist Basia Wyszynski), racks of samples, mood lighting and a detailed inspiration board, Kathryn Bowen, the designer, feels less emerging, and more, fully formed. Even the studio location, above the city’s oldest boxing gym in a gentrifying warehouse district, says much about Bowen’s taste level.

Though relatively new to the Canadian fashion scene, Bowen was educated at the London College of Fashion, where she gained valuable design experience with labels like Jonathan Saunders and Marc Jacobs, before spending four seasons assisting designer Yang Li in London. On returning home to Toronto, Bowen unveiled a Spring 2018 made-to-order collection that blended clean tailoring with utilitarian components. That debut excited local fashion observers, and earned her fans in Charlotte Day Wilson, Anna Collins, and Talvi Faustmann.

For fall, Bowen was inspired by a recent trip to Scotland where she went on a self-imposed digital detox: “I completely removed myself from digital distractions,” she says. “There was no internet or social media.” The result is an old-world collection that pays homage to train travel in the countryside, abstract nature paintings and of course, Scotland.

Watch our interview with Kathryn Bowen and check out her Fall 2018 lookbook at the bottom.