Tailoring brand aims to sew up expansion

A fashion designer who dreamt up the idea of her business on the banks of the River Spey has established a growing celebrity clientele and is targeting international expansion with the aim of becoming a global e-commerce brand.

One of Maquien's outfits

Vonny Law set up Maquien in 2009, buying her first piece of cloth to start the business from House of Bruar in Perthshire, and uses woven wools, tweeds and Scottish cashmere.

She said that this year alone her outfits have graced names including Joanna Lumley, Dame Judi Dench and Clare Balding, with the latter recently spotted at the Cheltenham Gold Cup in a Maquien coat. “It’s just so wonderful that they want to wear British clothes,” Law said.

The seamstress added that she started sewing as a child and returned to the activity when looking to “do something exciting” after her daughters left home.

The business spread by word-of-mouth with a big selling point being what she sees as consumers having become “more and more careful about buying something that’s going to last”.

Law said that after growing into Europe and the US she will look to other overseas markets. “We just want to take it further now,” she added.