Casual Statement
Comfortable elegance is the thinking behind the latest additions to the Poco by Pippa collection, which were designed to fill the gaps in Pippa O’Connor Ormond’s own working mum wardrobe
Pippa O’Connor Ormond introduces her new line of trainers, bombers and classic coats
Pippa O’Connor Ormond laughs heartily when I suggest that, as the owner of denim brand Poco by Pippa, she must have cringed every time she saw another post about people ditching their jeans in favour of sweatpants during lockdown. “Yeah, not many people lounge around in jeans,” she concedes, before adding gamely that you can “lie and eat and watch Netflix” in her own super-soft range.
Not that Pippa herself has had a lot of time for lying around. Life has been “more manic” in recent months as she, like so many, juggled parenting and work commitments under the one roof. She is thankful that, as an online business, Poco could keep its staff working during lockdown, but it wasn’t without its challenges. Pop-up stores were cancelled, and there was a long-planned drop of a new line of T-shirts and sweaters that had to be pivoted to launch from home.
Pippa ended up using mirror selfies as the official product shots — a look that chimed perfectly with the times.
This week sees the addition of sleek bomber jackets and chunky trainers to the Poco by Pippa range. I suggest that timing has once again been on her side, with the casually elegant pieces landing just when there’s an appetite for all things comfortable. But Pippa says that it wasn’t blind luck that aligned her designs with the way people want to dress now; she created the range based on her own needs.
“I love to feel glam, but it has to be practical,” she says. “I am always going from work to the kids, so I am always in runners and jeans. That’s how we create, by asking what I am missing in my basic, year-round wardrobe.”
She says she’s “ecstatic” about launching her own trainers, which come in four styles. “I’ve always wanted to do trainers but, like with the jeans, we had to start from scratch and learn how to make them and where to go for the right materials — Italian soles, Portuguese leather. It literally took years.”
Another item that’s been four years in development is the butter-soft leather biker jacket, pictured above left, which will go on sale in the autumn. It, too, came about because of Pippa’s own experience: she says she found it frustratingly hard to get a leather jacket to fit her long limbs.
The item Pippa is most excited about, however, is the houndstooth coat, pictured right, which is also in the autumn drop. “It’s just gorgeous; a classic. I could see my mum wearing it 10 years ago, and I can see myself wearing it over and over.”
That wear-again factor is important to a customer base that wants sustainability as well as style. Denim hasn’t always had the greenest of credentials, but Pippa says they’re working towards being able to make “a pair of jeans with just a pint of water”. And then it’s up to the customer to wear them to death — even if that means lounging around in jeans.
All items, unless otherwise listed, are from the Poco by Pippa collection, see pocobypippa.com
Bombers and trainers available from next Wednesday, August 12 on pocobypippa.com The rest of collection will be be available in autumn 2020