It all started on the 9th floor of a Shoreditch tower block in the heart of East London.
Aged 31, I left my secure relatively well-paid job to start my own business. Despite my mother instilling in me the fundamental notion that you never leave a job without having another lined up, there I was, on my own, just as the world tuned upside down.
It was September 2001.
Having worked for luxury fashion labels and retailers as a buyer and visual merchandiser for the previous 10 years, I had garnered a healthy network of contacts, coupled with some talent and a strong work ethic, I quickly secured several commissions, designing installations for Browns Focus on South Molton Street and Liberty London as well as creating concepts for press days and shop windows for various designer brands.
The Story
Alongside my freelance work, a friend and I started customizing, off-the-shelf but fantastically well-fitting, bustier tops. They were really quite beautiful, richly embellished, very unique & flattering pieces.
We hastily came up with a somewhat risqué name, not to everyone’s taste, but we thought it was cute and it suited our sexy little tops, and anyway, we had no time for procrastination or long-term aspirations.
Our first order was from a beautiful boutique in Brompton Cross, South Kensington. We promptly delivered and they sold out in days. From there we had multiple re-orders and with no time to spare before our Christmas orders dried up, I was frantically hand-sewing at the kitchen table by day and accompanied by my friend in the evening.
By January we hit an inevitable hiatus and had to decide what we wanted to do. I had no choice but to carry on as my bank balance was dwindling and more importantly I totally believed in the product, my friend however had a sensible daytime job and decided to stop. So, our informal and brief business partnership was at an end.
2001
Now on my own, I was feeling the pressure, was this a one-hit wonder, or could I navigate this bud of an idea into a sustainable business?
The following months were a tumultuous time for me, but I created some gorgeous new styles, put a business plan together, and, thanks to my freelance work, secured my first order with Browns Focus, one of the most influential boutiques in the industry. Liberty London soon came on board, plus a few other independent stores and orders started arriving on a regular basis.
As I expanded the product range and quantities increased, I engaged the help of a few local makers and it became a proper cottage industry. I would dye all the components in my washing machine, and deliver everything by bike, much to the amusement of my stockists, this worked really well for a couple of years.
2002 - 2003
With increasing press coverage, I engaged the services of a newly founded Soho-based fashion PR company and through them, I was offered “New Generation” sponsorship by Top Shop to exhibit at London Fashion Week.
This was a pivotal moment for me.
Armed with my sample collection, great photography by my now partner, Andreas Bleckmann, and with the help of a newly enlisted UK sales agent and a good friend, we presented the first Autumn Winter collection and the response was phenomenal.
Buyers who had traveled from all over the world to attend London Fashion Week were now flocking to my stand. Within three days we had secured over 140 generously sized orders from some of the very best international retailers.
It was amazing but totally overwhelming.
Shortly after, I was contacted by a Paris agent, who had heard about the brand’s sudden success, and after a brief meeting, we agreed to work together. She was multi-lingual and would organize my European order book, I also liked her very much and she became my sales agent for Europe along with other significant territories. Whilst she did help me to navigate this incredibly complex period, years later our ‘back of a fag packet’ arrangement would be my undoing.
With my orders confirmed, I had to turn my attention to production as there was no way that my little artisan team could accommodate this level of demand.
Unable to find any UK factories that could handle my numbers or the complex nature of the products, I had to look overseas, but with no manufacturing experience, I was totally reliant on a production company in Hong Kong. I relocated to Kowloon for several months in order to expedite production and work on my new collection.
This was without doubt the most stressful, turbulent, and nail-biting time of my life, but we managed to fulfill all confirmed orders, and I was back in the UK just in time for London Fashion Week. Ready to start the whole process again.
2004
The room dividing logo was changed to the far more respectable
La petite S***** but with hindsight, I should have completely changed the name as the product had, by now, developed way beyond its tentative roots, but with competing pressures and so much press already out there, it was not a straightforward decision.
The collection was now positioned on the designer floor of Le Bon Marche in Paris adjacent to Lanvin, Celine, and Stella McCartney, and with other stockists like Net-a-Porter, Barneys New York, Selfridges, and Harvey Nicholas in London already marketing the brand, the name had to stay, but it did cause unforeseen problems, especially with Google in later years and I’m sure it held us back in ways we may never know.
Despite this, my dresses were worn by royals, voted “Dress of the year” by the London Evening Standard, and photographed at social events all over the world.
I was also awarded UK fashion exporter of the year two years in a row and featured in Vogue and so many other fantastic magazines.
2005 - 2006
Autumn winter saw the only London catwalk show I presented, it added a whole other layer of stress and did nothing for sales, so I reverted swiftly back to exhibiting only.
After a brief period of producing in France, whilst also consulting and designing for a couture label, all production was finally brought into the UK as the range, by this point, had evolved from its origins and was now appropriate for UK manufacturers.
The previous few years were, without doubt, the most exhausting and stressful but ultimately transformative period of my life but by 2008 after the death of two family members, amidst the backdrop of a global economic crash, with fabric mills all over Europe withdrawing staple fabrics essential for our production, I finally hit a wall.
2007 - 2008
Burnt out physically, creatively, and emotionally, I struggled to produce my Autumn winter sample collection and for the first time, I walked away during the selling season to figure out how I could muster the strength to continue working at this pace. I left my agent and my assistant in Milan to handle sales and returned to London.
With hindsight I was probably peri menopausal and yet I knew nothing about this at the time. All I knew was that I was struggling to make the crucial decisions demanded of me on an hourly basis and physically, I was falling apart.
This was a dangerous time for the business as I was tempted to walk away, but I had responsibilities to my team and I still had some fight left in me, so I carried on, but I had to make major changes to my workload. I needed more space and a far bigger full-time studio team to support me.
Once again, I restructured the company and expanded the sample room, I took on two more studio spaces and employed several additional people. This made a huge difference to design productivity and the smooth flow of information to production, but with hugely increased overheads, came additional pressure to increase sales.
2009
2010
By now I had become increasingly frustrated with relying far too heavily on my agents, and it was time to handle marketing and sales in-house with the initial aim of developing untapped markets and improving our general marketing. This was a huge undertaking, we built a comprehensive worldwide retail and press database, designed communication campaigns targeting appropriate retailers, and travelled to dozens of stores all over the UK and Europe. The investment paid off and combined with strong collections we were achieving figures we had never previously seen.
After a particularly troublesome production season, I was desperate to break free from complex structured garments, which until now had been the brands DNA. With manufacturing costs increasing, I radically changed how I designed and by choosing to work with a very experimental, luxury mill, at a time when other brands were cutting back on raw material budgets, and by offsetting this additional expense by simplifying construction, I was able to offer equally desirable garments at a relatively competitive price. This was very well received by my buyers.
I started to have fun with my work and with turnover creeping up, a comprehensive database running, and an online store in development, I had a growing sense of optimism. The collections around this time were definitely the most liberating and enjoyable we had ever produced.
2011
2012
I was ready to reclaim some underperforming markets from my agent, with the long-term aim, of becoming completely self-reliant. It was a natural progression for the company as my European agent had other commitments and far too many of my markets to bring in the revenue, we needed to continue our growth.
But then came a dreadful realization.
An EU law that is not historically practiced in the UK and skewed in the agent’s favour meant that without paying eyewatering compensation or taking years to claw back any of my markets from my Paris agent, my only other option was to close the company down. This was a daunting, prospect.
Despite attempting to reason with my agent it was clear that there would be zero flexibility and court action was immediately threatened if I tried to remove any markets (so freely given away in 2004) This may have been bluster, but it left me with no choice.
All my growth plans and years of relentless work, at huge personal cost suddenly came to an abrupt halt. I can clearly remember my energy draining away as I started to process my new reality.
I could not face season after season of unrelenting work before I could even start to achieve my objectives, and so after years of battling I was finally done, defeated in a way I had most definitely not foreseen.
After completing Autumn winter 2012, I had the awful task of announcing to my wonderful team that Spring Summer 2013 would be our last.
The company was eventually dismantled, years of my work including thousands of graded patterns and original samples were packed into storage and I walked away for good.
I will never really know if I made the right business decision but from a personal perspective, I don’t think I had much choice.
It took me a long time to recover from the closure of my business and the years of relentless pressure had taken its toll, but I did slowly find a new path for myself and a decade later, my life is utterly different. I live by the sea and can barely recognise the person I was then or what I had to go through to survive as an independent businesswoman, operating in one of the toughest most competitive, and demanding industries.
Andreas and I are still together 20 years later and thanks to him we have an amazing photographic archive of all my past collections, and we have decided to celebrate this period of our life right here.
As well as being a cautionary tale, this story is also a positive reflection as I met some amazing people who worked unholy hours and dedicated so much energy to these beautiful collections. We can be proud of what we achieved despite the tragic and untimely demise of
La Petite S*****
2001-2013.
Written by Nicola Helgesen
Founder and Creative Director of La Petite S*****
2023
Exhibitions
New Generation at London fashion week AW04
New Generation at London fashion week SS05
New Generation at London fashion week AW05
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week AW05
Self-service London private viewings SS06
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week SS06
Self-service London private viewings AW06
Whites Milan Fashion Week AW06
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week AW06
Relative PR private viewing New York AW06
Chiltern Street Studios London Private viewings SS07
Whites Milan Fashion Week SS07
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week SS07
On-off London Fashion Week AW07
Whites Milan Fashion Week AW07
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week AW07
Chiltern Street Studios London Private viewings AW07
Chiltern Street Studios London Private viewings SS08
Whites Milan Fashion Week SS08
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week SS08
Self-service London private viewings AW08
Whites Milan Fashion Week AW08
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week AW08
Self-service London private viewings SS09
Whites Milan Fashion Week SS09
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week SS09
Self-service London private viewings AW09
Whites Milan Fashion Week AW09
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week AW09
London fashion week SS10
Whites Milan Fashion Week SS10
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week SS10
Self-service London private viewings AW10
Whites Milan Fashion Week AW10
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week AW10
Self-service London private viewings SS11
Whites Milan Fashion Week SS11
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week SS11
Self-service London private viewings AW11
Milan Fashion Week Private View AW11
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week AW11
Self-service London private viewings SS12
Milan Fashion Week Private View SS12
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week SS12
UK Fashions Exports Tokyo SS12
Self-service London private viewings AW12
Tranoi Montagne Paris Fashion Week AW12
Self-service London private viewings SS13
Private Viewings Paris Fashion Week SS13