Isle of Harris Distillery Tweed

Distinguished Distillery Tweed

The Isle of Harris Distillery have unveiled made to wear jackets for men and women in collaboration with the unique Harris Tweed.

In 2018, the Isle of Harris Distillery set out to discover more about the art of weaving and the skills of the people and mills who help bring the historic island textile known as Harris Tweed into being. The distillery, along with Harris Tweed Hebrides, the Harris Tweed Authority and the islands’ education services worked closely with schools across the island as they set local schoolchildren the challenge of designing a new Isle of Harris Distillery tweed while learning about this special and historic cloth from the Outer Hebrides.

After months of workshops and working with local children the eventual winner was 14-year-old Scott Murray from S3 at Sir E. Scott School in the Isle of Harris. Scott’s submission included an intriguing mood board with experimental yarn selection and pattern painting with carefully thought-out rationale of his influences. Scott’s winning design was woven by the distillery’s own Stephen Passmore and last year, Isle of Harris Distillery collaborated with designer Judy R Clark to create a uniquely special Made To Measure jacket from this cloth. Following the popularity of this limited edition, Isle of Harris Distillers and Judy R Clark have now announced the launch of two Made-To-Order jackets in the same style (sizes ranging from 6-18 for women and 36-48 for men).

“It is wonderful to collaborate with the Isle of Harris Distillery again, we have thoroughly enjoyed taking this project to life with them and seeing it develop from Scott’s original tweed design to Judy’s stylish jacket.” Lorna Macaulay, Harris Tweed Authority CEO.

Award winning designer Judy R Clark is famed for her exquisite hand tailored womenswear designs comprising of Harris Tweeds, Scottish lace and antique fabrics.

Judy first began to use Harris Tweed when her grandmother, a native to the islands brought her back a suitcase full of vibrant tweeds on the boat which had been woven by her Uncle Donald; a weaver on the island. Judy brings an avant-garde twist to the cloth creating contemporary wears in her unique collections.

For this exclusive project Judy has been working with Alison MacDonald of Tiger Textiles in the Isle of Lewis. Alison has been working from her studio in Ness embroidering threads of rose gold on to sumptuous teal velvets for the hidden message, ‘Esse Quam Videri’ in the back collars.

Each jacket is made using specially woven Isle of Harris Distillery Harris Tweed combined with luxurious teal velvet collars embroidered with rose gold threads. The linings inspired by the Hebridean seas finished with rose copper buttons and contrasting sea blue buttonholes.

Judy says: “The Isle of Harris Distillery Collection has been such a wonderful project to work on, combining colours of the beautiful landscapes, blue seas and rose gold of the distillery has been a dream. The coats are contemporary and so wearable, with great attention to detail, each made by hand in Scotland.”

A Modern Take on Classic Cashmere

Situated in Yorkshire in the north of England, heartland of the wool industry and a region built on skill, technical prowess and soft water, Joshua Ellis was established back 1767 to produce the heavier woollen cloths necessary for warmth and durability. Since then, modern machinery has been married with age-old manufacturing techniques to produce the collection of luxurious products on offer today.

Now, Joshua Ellis offers up a stunning collection of cashmere for the Autumn/Winter season with something for every occasion.

Windowpane Cashmere Stole in Eau de Nil (70cm x 190cm) £350.00 Plain Cashmere Stole in Vanilla (70cm x 190cm) £350.00 Cashmere Tweed Wide Scarf in White (35cm x 190cm) £159.00 Joshua Ellis | joshuaellis.com

Beauty Buys

Keep a fresh face and vibrant scent to combat the darker times ahead with this month's product picks.

Proven to protect your skin against blue light and infrared radiation, this high-performance Blue Light Defence and Moisturising Mist from Susanne Kaufmann shields skin from harmful influences that radiate from our phones and screens, leaving it glowing with vitality. Infrared radiation and visible light such as blue light from our screens and phones, penetrates deeper into the layers of the skin, which in turn can lead to pigmentation, wrinkles, redness, and dullness making this a much needed companion for your skincare routine.

Blue Light Defence & Moisturising Mist £54.00 from Susanne Kaufmann. Available at Space NK and Net-A-Porter. Packed with probiotics, prebiotics and actives to help restore and rebalance stressed skin, Venn Probiotics Cica Complex Biome Booster can help revitalise the complexion and soothe irritated skin. After chemical, physical or UV-induced stress, its formula of over 37.5% probiotics and prebiotics help to balance the skin’s microbiome to reveal a younger, healthier appearance. With key cica actives, the serum has a soothing action while niacinamide helps to strengthen the skin’s barrier, and hyaluronic acid supports intense hydration.

Probiotics Cica Complex Biome Booster, 30ml £153.00 from Venn.

Available at Space NK and Net-a-

Porter.

Fresh with bergamot and soft with pale blooms mimicking the serene shimmer of sun on snow, transport yourself to alpine climes with Tom Ford's new Soleil Neige EDP.

Soleil Neige Eau De Parfum, 50ml £178.00 from Tom Ford. Available from 8 October. Estee Lauder has launched 8 brand new luxury fragrances to awaken your senses and transport your mind. From Tender Light to Blushing Sands, the collection features a range of scents from woody vetiver to a leather floral. Priced between £68.00 and £130.00 the uplifting and relaxing scents are housed in beautiful gold accented bottles and the variety means there is something for everyone.

The Luxury Collection Eau De Parfum, 40ml £68.00; 100ml £130.00 from Estee Lauder. esteelauder.co.uk

Chanel has launched a new additions to the Le Lift collection. High performance and supremely lightweight, the Le Lift Fluid is composed of botanical alfalfa concentrate, which is as efficient as retinol* and yet still gentle on the skin, and also roucou seed extract which works to reduce areas of shine. Skin is left smoother and firmer, while the appearance of pores are minimised and mattified. Elsewhere the Le Lift Crème Yeux focuses on using the firming and smoothing properties of botanical alfalfa concentrate to decongest and energise the delicate skin around the eye contour. Containing a Phyto-Active Complex, its delicate, melt-away texture envelops the eye area in a soft, comfortable veil.

And finally, the silky balm-like Le Lift Lip and Contour Care stimulates collagen production to nourish contours and plump lips. Wrinkles are smoothed, contours are firmed, and lips are plumped.

Le Lift Fluid £108.00; Le Lift Crème Yeux £70.00; and Le Lift Lip and Contour Care £68.00 from Chanel. chanel.com

Especially designed with delicate eyelash extensions in mind, the new Slip Contour Sleep Mask has been cleverly designed to sit away from your eyelids and allow additional space for your eyelashes to sit while you get your beauty sleep. Using the highest grade (6A) long fibre mulberry silk, this innovative mask means you don't have to compromise the care of your lash extensions over a good night's sleep. Genius.

Contour Sleep Mask Lovely Lashes £55.00 from Slip. Available at Harvey Nichols.

XALICE MADE THIS OCEAN DIAMONDS

This new collection of 9k gold and raw diamond necklaces, earrings and bracelets explores a beautiful and unique story of resilience, quality, responsibility, and nature. Inspired by the immense voyage of an ocean diamond, Alice Made This draws on this journey to inspire and inform the collection. Each diamond has travelled over millennia from the earth’s mantle to the open ocean bed where it is hand picked and paired with solid gold, continuing the diamond’s journey from ocean to heirloom.

Based in Cornwall, Ocean Diamonds is a leading specialist in marine diamonds, working with skilled divers and expert artisans to consciously source and carefully certify one of nature’s most precious gifts - the diamond.

From seabed to surface, Ocean Diamonds believes in celebrating the power of the ocean in every stone, exploring the diamond’s wild and brilliant nature while providing an opportunity for the wearer to carry the ocean with them through their daily life.

Ocean diamonds started their journey to the sea billions of years ago, carried by the rivers and eventually settling in the seabeds off the coasts of Namibia and South Africa where they are artfully uncovered by responsible diamond divers. It is this journey that has inspired this exciting new collaboration with precision jewellery brand Alice Made This.

The gold and diamond jewellery collection from Alice Made This X Ocean Diamonds, is inspired by the diamond’s journey from deep within the earth’s surface and into the waters of the flowing sea, spending millennia travelling via geotechnical movement from kimberlite pipes in the earth’s crust, down mountains, along rivers, through currents and into the shallows of the ocean waiting to be discovered and hand-picked by local divers.

To create this collection, the stones have intentionally been left with their raw ocean-picked finish to celebrate this arduous journey and the wonder of nature in all its glory. The forms of the Ocean Diamonds collection are organic and crude, working in harmony with the raw ocean diamonds to symbolise the journey and immense story the stones have to tell - providing a tangible connection to the ocean and the surrounding natural world.

Beginning as mouldable wax, each individual piece is precisely weighed, rolled, cut and hand worked. The diamonds are then coarsely embedded into the wax, replicating the way in which they are wedged and gently caught in the sediment and nooks of the ocean bed. This action splays the wax to the shape of the raw diamond and encases it in a protective and organic way.

The shapes and forms of the collection echo the movement and travels of the diamond. For example, the meandering of the river is mirrored in the wrapping and holding of the diamond, whereas the oxygen bubbles of the divers are represented by voids made by splaying the wax outwards and capturing the diamond in the edge. The pip form, with the diamond pressed in its centre, is inspired by small pebbles and sand rolling along side by side with the diamonds on the journey to the ocean, and the circle and stick forms are marked by crafting tools to reflect an aerial view of waves flowing across the surface of the sea, a homage to the Benguela currents.

THE POWER OF INSTINCT