To be in the know when it comes to fashion can vary from person to person, but the usual tell-tale signs are that brands like Khaite and Toteme are in their vocabulary. And presumably hanging in their wardrobes.
While they have deservedly become household names, the mark of a true sartorialist is staying across the emerging designers of note. The luxury independent fashion brands to know, if you will. As a fashion writer working at Who What Wear, it is not only my passion, but within my job description to be at the forefront of the zeitgeist and be across this upcoming cohort to ensure that you, our readers, are also in the know.
Finding the next Proenza Schouler or Peter Do or Phoebe Philo does take commitment; trawling multi-brand retailers like Dover Street Market, keeping a close eye on the new generation showing at smaller fashion weeks in Copenhagen and Sydney, seeing what celebrity stylists like Dara Allen, Danielle Goldberg and Jamie Mizrahi are dressing their clients in. As I’ve built a profession around identifying the luxury independent fashion brands before they make it mainstream, it would be remiss of me to gatekeep.
These niche brands might not be new to you, though they may be for some. Which is why I’ve also included the designers’ It items that everyone is currently impressed by. What you’ll find below is a curated list of the top 11 independent brands and buys you’re probably not across yet. These designers all operate from around the world—including the outskirts of Istanbul, the dreamy Northern Rivers region of Australia, Italy’s mills and even here in the heart of London—yet still have one thing in common. All discerning, minimalistic, designed for the modern woman and crafted with the highest quality fabrics, these buys will last you a lifetime. Uncover them all, ahead.
The 11 Luxury Independent Fashion Brands and Buys to Know
1. St. Agni
(Image credit: St. Agni)
Style Notes: Hailing from the languid beaches of Byron Bay, St. Agni is one of Australia’s foremost contemporary fashion brands. The brand’s silhouettes are contemporary, unfussy, infused with a ‘90s fashion sensibility and functional for both city and coastal settings, which is why you’ll see designs like Carrie Bradshaw-esque mini dresses rendered in a TENCEL™ Lyocell fabric (a type of regenerated material that has a lower environmental impact) alongside sleek lambskin halter neck tops, deliciously light-weight silk camisoles jackets, woven leather bags and trousers with built-in cummerbunds. The brand’s pieces have been worn by the likes of Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber, Jennifer Lawrence and Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex.
(Image credit: FRAT courtesy of St. Agni.)
Shop the Brand:
ST. AGNI
Organza Camisole
St. Agni’s designs also evoke a sort of “off-duty” sensibility that bridges practicality with taste, as seen in this semi-sheer top.
St Agni
90s Splice Panelled Pants
The brand’s pieces are the perfect building blocks of a chic capsule wardrobe or refined uniform, like these two-toned trousers.
ST. AGNI
Leather Wedge Sandals
Don’t ignore St. Agni’s accessories either. Their jewellery, handbag and footwear are always classic in shape but still offer a point of difference that makes them so covetable.
2. The Row
(Image credit: The Row)
Style Notes: If you’re going to be familiar with a luxury independent fashion brand on this list, it’s going to be The Row. Founded by Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen in 2006, The Row silently helped pioneer the market of well-finished and expertly made staples that whispered wealth. According to the Olsen Twins themselves, the brand began with the simple mission of creating the perfect white T-shirt. This idea then spiralled into a capsule collection of just seven pieces, including cashmere, before becoming the elegant titan we know it to be now. With the brand’s name deriving from Savile Row, The Row’s boutique in Mayfair (which includes mid-century furnishings, a James Turrell light installation and a strict “no pictures” policy) is a must-visit while in London.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Shop the Brand:
The Row
Marlo Large Leather Tote Bag
THE ROW
Sharka Cotton and Cashmere-Blend Twill Wide-Leg Pants
Something that makes The Row so unique is the brand’s ability to elevate everyday essentials like white jeans. These aren’t just any denim, but an expensive blend of cotton and cashmere for the utmost comfort, structure and polish.
The Row
Dune Leather Flip Flops
3. Dear Frances
(Image credit: Dear Frances)
Style Notes: You can’t take a wrong step when wearing Dear Frances. An intentionally slow fashion brand, the London-based label is unique in its commitment to Italian craftsmanship and covetable accessories. The brand first piqued interest in 2021 with the Balla style, a mesh slipper style that puts a sensual spin on woven ballet flats. Designed for a glove fit, it’s the perfect vessel for showcasing a sophisticated pedicure and embracing the naked dressing trend in a more subtle way. Since then, the brand has expanded into handbags with the launch of its first-ever mesh bag, the shopper-style Sachetto, begun toying with mesh trainers and even celebrated its tenth anniversary. As an Australian myself, I adore how the brand’s founder and creative director, Jane Frances, comes from down under, too. But even more so, I love the fact she trained as a shoe designer in a family-owned factory outside of Milan, so you know the styles are made for the well-travelled woman.
Shop the Brand:
Dear Frances
Balla Mesh, Black
The LBD of footwear, in my opinion.
DEAR FRANCES
Sacchetto Medium Mesh Shoulder Bag
Like how a glass of red wine will make any outfit look more sultry and expensive, this bag will have the same effect thanks to its Merlot hue.
DEAR FRANCES
Balla Mesh Heeled Courts
This heeled style will look ravishing under a pair of French girl-inspired jeans or New York-esque pencil skirts.
4. Beare Park
(Image credit: ImaxTree Launchmetrics Spotlight)
Style Notes: In under five years, Sydney-based label Beare Park has gone from making it’s debut under the sails of the Sydney Opera House during the 2021 season of Australian Fashion Week to winning the Australian Fashion Laureate prize for Emerging Designer of the Year in 2024. Along the way, it has remained steady in its vision of arming its customers with timeless and sophisticated staples. Located in the harbourside suburb of Potts Point, co-founder and creative director Gabriella Pereira designs every piece and hand sources fabric across France, Italy and Japan herself. More importantly, the brand is dedicated to a circular fashion model, expanding this even further by promoting causes close to the community, including outfitting the national women’s football team, the Matildas, with off-field tailoring and creating a pink blouse in partnership with the National Breast Cancer Foundation, donating 100% of the proceeds towards the charity.
(Image credit: Beare Park)
Shop the Brand:
BEARE PARK
Double-Breasted Wool-Twill Blazer
With a background in finance, Pereira identified a gap in the market when looking at her own corporate wardrobe when ideating Beare Park, so it makes sense that tailoring is a core part of the brand.
That isn’t to say that’s all Beare Park is good for, though. This gossamer chartreuse was a key element of the brand’s latest collection, and I love how it adds a seductive element to this otherwise prim outfit thanks to the pleated skirt.
Beare Park
Lou Mini Skirt
This bubble-inspired mini is another example of this tension between stiff workwear and hedonistic, skin-baring pieces you find yourself in on the weekends.
5. Rue Sophie
Style Notes: Relaunching in 2024 under the visage Rue Sophie, this brand has been an editor’s secret for nearly two years now. However, in that time, the label has enjoyed the success of being spotted on early adopters like Pamela Anderson and Demi Moore, who wore pieces on their respective press cycles for The Last Showgirl and The Substance. At a far more affordable price point compared to its contemporaries, Rue Sophie is distinct as it takes a considerably softer approach to dressing. Knits are lightweight, tops are fluid, and the colour palette ranges from liquid metallics to dusty pinks.
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Rue Sophie
Piquenique Pintuck Shirt
This pintuck top is an example of the brand’s romantic lens.
Rue Sophie
Darrion Bermuda Shorts
Pieces are structured but never stiff.
Rue Sophie
Monnaie Tie Neck Organza Top
Revealing and intimate yet still quite architectural in its design.
6. Rohé
Style Notes: Rohé is a Dutch studio and atelier located in Amsterdam’s “Golden Bend”, the most prestigious and palatial part of the Netherlands’ Herengracht canal district. The brand’s clothing reflects this stature, with everything from sumptuous outerwear to satin trousers designed to be as regal and swish as the location in which it’s made. Drawing inspiration from architecture, poetry and photography, the brand is best known for its origami capsule, a collection of shirts and blouses that translates the folding and pleating of paper into clothing.
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RÓHE
Gathered Ramie-Voile Blouse
This billowing shape reminds me of the clothing you’d see depicted in the background of the Dutch masters like Rembrand or Vermeer.
RÓHE
Oversized Striped Silk Shirt
Still, nonetheless relevant for today’s palette.
Decadent draping is part of the brand’s DNA.
7. Tove
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Style Notes: Tove is a London-based small-batch fashion studio that evokes British charm and polish in all its iterations. Founded by friends Holly Wright and Camille Perry, Tove interprets the clothing worn throughout the city and countryside and distils it into considered and limited ranges that are dropped throughout the year. This season, the brand has brought linen to the forefront, as showcased in the relaxed strapless Tove dresses you’ve no doubt seen all over your social media feeds.
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TOVE
Lauryn Strapless Stretch-Cotton Midi Dress
Tove
Ceres Gathered Cotton Midi Dress
I’m besotted with the shirring effect in this gathered midi.
TOVE
Izel Linen Bandeau Top
8. Manu Atelier
Style Notes: Founded in Istanbul by sisters Beste and Merve Manastır, Manu Atelier is the designer bag brand you’d have noticed swinging from the shoulders of the most stylish people across London. It’s true—the best wardrobes in Britain aren’t complete without an addition from this brand, which is made distinct by the signature belt-inspired buckled strap that wraps around the front of its styles. On that note, the most prominent style is the suede Le Cambon 35, which comes in eight different neutral hues and is snug enough to be tucked under your elbow.
(Image credit: Manu Atelier)
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Manu Atelier
Le Cambon 35 Deep Brown Suede
Manu Atelier
Mini Tote Du Jour Camel Suede
This long strap and pint-sized body is a very chic daytime bag.
Manu Atelier
Le Cambon 20 Indeco Blue Suede
Watch this space—blue suede will be the next phenomenon.
9. Kallmeyer
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Style Notes: A New York powerhouse, but still lesser known than the likes of Tory Burch, Calvin Klein and Wardrobe.NYC, Kallmeyer is quickly becoming an institution for savvy and stylish city slickers. Synonymous with downtown cool and nonchalant elegance, the brand’s floaty shapes and ability to make even the most delicate of designs look rough and ready have swiftly earned it a cult following, including among celebrities like Ayo Edebiri, And Just Like That’s Sarita Choudhury and Katie Holmes.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Shop the Brand:
KALLMEYER
Eloise Satin Mini Dress
This is the exact dress The Bear actress wore to a cast dinner for the critically acclaimed TV show. However, if I were a modern bride, I’d channel Charli XCX and wear this as an excessively casual wedding dress.
KALLMEYER
Eve Asymmetric Layered Checked Voile Maxi Dress
This has Chloë Sevigny’s name written all over it.
KALLMEYER
Victoria Draped Stretch-Jersey Maxi Dress
Another ‘IYKYK’ brand, Faithfull the Brand, has used this glass slipper blue in their recent collection, too.
10. Tibi
(Image credit: ImaxTree Launchmetrics Spotlight)
Style Notes: Amy Smilovic’s Tibi is more than just an independent luxury fashion brand; it’s an entire philosophy. Aside from their clothing, Smilovic is known for her styling playbook, The Creative Pragmatist, a sort of how-to with helpful tools and tricks to help develop your eye, taste and personal style. But if you don’t have time to brush up on this coursework, all of Tibi’s designs are infused with the principles spelt out in the book, meaning you can invest soundly knowing that whatever piece you buy is already expertly put together for you.
(Image credit: ImaxTree Launchmetrics Spotlight)
Shop the Brand:
TIBI
Liam Oversized Shell Blazer
This blazer highlights how the brand balances creativity with pragmatism by making a utility jacket in playful sheen fabric.
TIBI
Alec High-Rise Straight-Leg Jeans
You can’t go wrong with a pair of jeans.
TIBI
Winslow Shell Barrel-Leg Pants
But if you want to be a little bit more adventurous, this aubergine barrel leg style ticks all the right boxes.
11. LeMarie
(Image credit: ImaxTree Launchmetrics Spotlight)
Style Notes: What began in Le Marias in 1990 is now a veritable independent luxury fashion establishment. Lemaire is a lesser-known French fashion brand, but one worth being spoken about nonetheless. Led by Christophe Lemaire, the eponymous founder and former creative director of Hermès, and co-designer Sarah-Linh Tran, Lemaire draws inspiration from Parisian attitudes and well-styled locals.
Shop the Brand:
LEMAIRE
Croissant Small Paneled Textured-Leather Shoulder Bag
The croissant bag is one of the brand’s trademark styles.
LEMAIRE
Organic Cotton-Jersey T-Shirt
LEMAIRE
Leather Ballet Flats
The brand evokes the old-world charm of Paris’s artistic origins with couture-level details.
What is an Luxury Independent Fashion Brand?
For the uninitiated, a luxury independent fashion brand refers to a clothing brand that is owned independently. Often operated by the designers themselves and financed by a series of investments, these brands are not under the control of a larger conglomerate or company, such as LVMH, which owns brands like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Dior, Fendi, Celine and Loewe, or Kering, which owns Gucci, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen and Bottega Veneta. Other luxury independent fashion brands include Chanel, Hermès, Prada and Giorgio Armani.
Why Trust Us?
At Who What Wear UK, fashion is our speciality. Our editors have years of industry experience, from reporting on seasonal fashion trends seen at international fashion weeks to working with some of the most recognisable names in fashion. Every item we recommend is carefully selected based on current trends, quality and real-world wearability.
We regularly try pieces ourselves, everything from bestselling jeans to designer shoes, speak to external experts and fashion insiders and stay closely connected to what our readers are searching for. Our advice is grounded in expertise and has to pass our exceptional taste levels—so you can feel confident in every recommendation.
