At one point in our morning together, Shrimps (Hannah Weiland’s fashion alias) draws the comparison between the shearling on her coat and her dog Lionel: “I kind of got him because he matches the coat. I just love fluffy things,” she explains matter-of-factly. We are in Hyde Park on a perfect autumn morning, with the leaves on the trees all shades of gold and red.
Lionel, Hannah’s dog, does indeed resemble the shearling stripes on her coat with one major difference: he isn’t brightly coloured (that would be a bit odd on a pet admittedly). Hannah’s fashion label, Shrimps, is best known for faux fur coats in funky colours. The fun name of the label embodies the aesthetic – this is fashion to enjoy. In case you were wondering, “Shrimps is a childhood nickname because I was small and pink,” Hannah explains. Of course.
Fashion has always been what Hannah wanted to do, ever since her first internship at Betty Jackson. “I remember I was about fourteen and my school was like you need to do a week's work experience in the Easter holidays. I was so nervous when my mum dropped me off, and then I walked in and was like 'I love it I love it!' " she reminisces. However, her route into setting up her own label was not the most conventional. After school she studied History of Art at Bristol, which explains all of the artistic influences that can be found in her designs (most obviously the Grayson clutch, named after potter and subject of her dissertation). The badges that you can see throughout this article are an indicator of her artistic influences (with a whiff of Perry, it has to be said).
After History of Art Hannah launched into studying surface Textile Design, and so began her obsession with textures and fabrics. She really found her niche when she started working with faux fur: “What’s not to love?” she exclaims excitedly when we come onto the topic of her beloved fur.
Since launching, her coats have become the darling of Fashion Week, seen on the likes of Poppy Delevingne and Natalie Massanet. Coats are just the beginning for Shrimps: Hannah is now expanding into knitwear and ready-to-wear. The process will be a measured one though: “I want to branch into different things but just do it quite steadily, and not just suddenly have a huge collection of a hundred knitted jumpers and cardigans. I want to do just little touches and see how it goes,” Hannah tells us.
Shrimps is garnering an ever-expanding fanbase, but safe to say that Lionel remains number one. “Lionel loves the coats,” Hannah laughs, “I think he recognises me in the park from my coats because they do stick out. So I'm walking off and he'll look out for a bright pop of pink or orange or green and run after it.” We can’t say we blame him – that’s our first reaction too.
Text by Prudence Wade
