19/11/24
Just outside of Alnwick, in a virtually unpopulated village, lives a designer whose pieces you’d expect to see at the Met Gala or in a museum, not in rural Northumberland. At just 25, Meg Fletcher debuted her collection ‘Homeground’ this summer at Alnwick Castle. The hauntingly beautiful show was a love letter to Northumberland, with the Rock Festival Choir echoing amongst the towering medieval stone walls of the castle, the show was a reflection of Meg’s upbringing in the North and her deep affection for the land and people. I was lucky enough to witness her debut, and now to see her art up close.
Hidden away amongst Fletcher family photographs and muddy wellies, within the winding corridors of an old farmhouse, is Meg’s studio. Cohabiting with everyday life in the countryside, are custom fitted capes and scaly iron-feathered bodysuits. Choosing to be an artist in this area of the world isn’t anything new or groundbreaking, but choosing to create haute couture garments and gowns is.
Guiding me through her studio, Meg has assembled the entire Homeground collection in her workspace, carefully stored in boxes and tissue, arranged on the floor and hanging on a rail by her mannequin. She handles each garment with great care and pores over her design process with personal anecdotes for each piece.
Fletcher draws her inspirations from her environment. The great landscapes, wildlife, architecture, and people of Northumberland. Many of her designs are constructed around steelwork, back pieces of sprawling branches and intricate knots that adorn the wearer’s collarbones. Blacksmithing father-daughter-duo Ashlee Donaldson and Steven Lunn produced all the metalwork for Homeground, working closely with Fletcher to achieve her sketches. The designs contract the heavy metalwork with dramatic draping cuts and rich natural colours.
Her artistic choices often draw from classic British designs, like her aptly named ‘Toile De Northumberland’ print, a take on toile de jouy, which is popular in English country homes. Toile de Northumberland is a thoughtfully designed fabric with sky blue prints of various historical locations in Northumberland, illustrated by artist Liz Newton. The reimagined print is found on the ‘Liz Cape’ and the ‘Liz Suit’, the suit is in the style of a classic riding jacket with flared trousers to match. A version of Toile De Northumberland can also be found plastered on the bathroom walls of Meg’s home.
After graduating Northumbria University in 2023, Meg made the decision to independently debut her first collection coming straight out of her degree. Not only is this a monumental challenge for any creative, but not commonly done, particularly in the north. She expressed her frustration at the challenge of working in fashion design, as London remains the epicentre for artists across the country, it’s not a mindset that can be changed overnight.
What are the challenges of working in fashion in the North? Specifically with high fashion, does it inspire you to go against the grain?
“It’s really hard, it’s really hard. But you’re right, the motivation to be different is definitely there. I feel like I’m more capable of standing out from the crowd up here and if I was down south, I feel like I would be having to shout through the noise of so many graduate designers. I’ve also in this year decided that calling myself an artist, not only works better for me and what I actually think my work is, but it allows me to do more than just traditional fashion and what people believe fashion is. It also gives me more wiggle room to brand myself how I want and take myself away from those more negative thoughts on the fashion industry”
One of Fletcher’s signature silhouettes, the cape, features three times in the ‘Homeground’ collection and as her graduate piece at Northumbria University. The ‘Sunset Cape’ is a direct print of a photograph taken by Meg of Colby Crags overlooking the Cheviot Hills, then transferred onto a chiffon fabric to make the garment.
On London social media culture in the industry:
“A lot of graduates, you open their instagram and find a post pinned to the top, with their work on the biggest name they could get it on. I don’t want my self worth to be pinned on the biggest celebrity I can get my work on. My absolute favourite thing is putting them on my friends, working with the models and seeing their faces light up, that makes me really happy so, that’s far better than any tag I could get on instagram”
Meg Fletcher is quietly confident, her work is an extension of herself. She has already achieved successes in her career, confidence in her sense of self and her signature designs. She disclosed that a ready-to-wear collection may be on the cards in the future, but for now, get to know the young artist and her gift to northern fashion.