Looking for the LBD of bathing suits? Beth Richards — the Vancouver designer who was getting calls from Vogue before Canadian media had even gotten her number — has just what you need to go from the beach to your bike to the bar and beyond.
The punk-pop bad girl turned swimwear star, with roots in skate and rave culture and who “sat on a lot of curbs growing up,” has turned the bathing suit into a bar star. And online luxury retailer NET-A-PORTER was first in line to buy her a drink.
Richards even broke ground as the first designer to be picked up by the site on the merits of a first season alone. But, as is the case with love affairs, one often wants what one can’t have.
“Part of the reason why I wanted to do this and why I take it so seriously sometimes, is that I feel like, in Canada, there really isn’t the right representation of some of the talent that exists in this country. Canadian media has been, I don’t want to say unsupportive, but has been less present in this whole experience. Trying to get the attention of some of the major publications in Canada was a challenge, when we were [simultaneously] being sought out by Vogue,” she explains. “And that was a little sad and a little bit shocking when I first started.”
It’s not like the Toronto export, who lives and works out of her downtown Vancouver studio, is flaunting some fly-by-night success story. Richards has been designing apparel and accessories for lifestyle brands such as Sugoi, Fluevog and Aritzia for the last decade.
In fact, she only last year began going with her eponymous line full time without a second job as back up.
“Looking back, I still wonder how I fit the time in, but it’s clear that this was my passion so it never really felt like work.”
It was actually more like a necessity. Richards says that from the day she moved here, she embraced Vancouver’s beach culture, but found our bathing suit selection lacking. Wanting to bring a bit of mystery back to skimpy swimwear, and not wanting to wear American Apparel into her 30s, Richards says she didn’t over-think her new niche.
“There are other women out there who clearly feel the same way — who don’t have their needs addressed in the marketplace. And more often than not, women buy more than one suit at a time. Which goes to show that once they are comfortable with something they’re willing to buy, much like a pair of jeans. I wanted to be the answer to the modern woman’s lifestyle.”
Inspired by 90s supermodels and the sex symbols of the 50s and 60s (a group of which Richards, with her knowing laugh and blonde Françoise Hardy hair, could easily be a member), her two-year-old line has more classics than the Library of Congress and more signatures than a Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Black-on-black, white-on-black, crosses, halters, keyholes, high waists, higher thighs. Spring/Summer ‘14, her fourth collection, blends those standards with triathalon-strength bodysuits and T-shirts as you’ve never imagined them.
The jumbled subculture of her childhood is everywhere in her aesthetic: Stussy and Supreme; the riot girl movement; rave stickers and iconography; Big Brother magazine; rap music; 7-Eleven. “That’s how summers were,” the designer recalls with a raspy laugh.
As antisocial as it all sounds, though, her Kelly suit just made it into the window of Selfridges on Oxford Street — among the most coveted retail spaces in the world.
Beth Richards, in all her Kim Gordon glory, is accessible.
“I’m lucky and honoured to be in one of the windows on Oxford Street, representing Canada,” says Richards. “It’s like the fashion Olympics in a way. I feel really proud that I can be a Canadian voice for fashion and women… the whole thing. I don’t take it lightly; the industry is fleeting and you only hope that you can be there for the whole ride.”
Until then, Beth Richards can keep doing whatever the punk she wants.
Prices range from $100 for separates to $286 for two-piece sets and one-pieces. You can find these beach babes at gravitypope (2205 W. 4th) and BethRichards.com.
