In a shift, the British-Jamaican designer unpacks influences, hardships and expansive visions of her brand, Maison Bent.
HOW DO you blend heritage with the sweet, subversive seam of the modern day? That’s the self-commissioned pursuit that London-based designer Shanna Bent very much intends to figure out.
“I founded the brand in 2020, where I received tons of attention for the racial reckoning that took place back then,” says Bent, whose venture into the system began in 2013 upon graduating from London’s College of Fashion.
As our dialogue begins to settle, Bent speaks with utter poise and unguarded honesty—no mean feat in a world of stilted Zoom conversations. “I experienced burnout after two years, and I had to take a break because I wasn’t able to function,” she freely admits. “It felt intuitive, but at some point, I came to terms with the fact that I had to come out and do something new”.
Shanna Bent. Photograph: Clem Morris
She’s not averse to unwinding but she does have a serious gumption – proficient, driven, smart, and all the while relentless. “After a challenging start to this year, I mused over my future plans and right away thought I needed to do another collection,” says Bent. “I needed to do something for the public to bring attention back to the brand, because I had much more time on my hands and I got back into the studio.”
With this sensibility, she seems to be interested in inserting herself somewhere along the soulful continuum; a place where emerging designers have been known to play and portray fashion that comes from a place of emotion and sheer intent.
Photograph: Kiera Simpson
Photograph: Kiera Simpson
A few seasons into the London calendar, Bent has established her codes. The plurality of her heritage – Jamaican and British – celebrates the powerful women from the Caribbean diaspora, projecting heritage and historical references through a lens of contemporary essentials.
Her latest collection embodies the enduring spirit of Queen Nanny of the Maroons – Jamaica’s famed 18th-century freedom fighter and national hero, who led her people in a protracted guerrilla war. “Each piece channels Queen Nanny’s resilience, regality, and strength, seamlessly merged with the grace and power of today’s modern woman,” detail the recent notes.
She favours tailoring and cuts that highlight the form and sculpt the body, and this season she showed them cinched and elongated in gorgeous shades of neutrals. “For this collection, because there are pieces from past seasons that I really liked, I felt satisfied to develop these further,” says Bent.
Photograph: Kiera Simpson
Photograph: Kiera Simpson
She also loves a bit of drama on top and achieves it by incorporating metal rings that symbolise the industrial labour force, circles that look back at the second collection (namely—cutouts), and details in celebration of Carnival and pop art from the 1960s. “I wanted to entwine everything from the past and encompass new things within this collection, building upon what I’ve already had in place,” she adds.
Bent set out to offer a complete wardrobe—from blazers, dresses and a sleeveless gilet on the menswear front—in a way that reflected the break-to-bed ideal of traditional ready-to-wear. Conscious of her creative practice, she’s acutely aware of her potential and what more could be achieved with a greater workforce.
Photograph: Kiera Simpson
Photograph: Kiera Simpson
“I don’t feel like it’s reached its pivotal point, because Maison Bent is a small company,” she admits. “It’s literally just me, and I often feel hesitant to admit that to people. But it’s actually just me, and I just need to embrace it. I know that with further support and a larger team I will be able to develop it to where it needs to be, however I’m still on a journey, and I don’t feel like I should be ashamed that it’s on a journey because I’m proud of where it has come.”
Bent’s sheer relentlessness reflects that of a wealth of upcoming designers trying to pave a path in the cutthroat world of fashion, hindered by its equally cutthroat fixtures that sit on the opposite side of progress. “Considering I do all the pattern cutting myself, likewise all the cutting, sewing and sampling, I’m quite proud of where it has come,” she says. So I cannot help but wonder: what is the key issue behind the struggle of an emerging designer?
“The economic backing is perhaps the hardest challenge as an independent creative,” she admits, “because with a brand, there’s so many roles to fulfil. You have to be your own sales manager, your own PR manager, you’re your own seamstress; you’re just your own, but in the ideal world, it shouldn’t be running like this”.
Photograph: Kiera Simpson
Photograph: Kiera Simpson
That leads me to ask about the practical ways of gaining huge attention while being fairly little. “I think support needs to come from the stores and e-tailers, because I’ve spoken to a few buyers from really big department stores, and I just feel like they buy into what the press is focusing on. Whatever the press is focusing on, or whatever they see being hyped up on social media, that’s what they’re going to support. Regardless of whether you have an amazing collection at a great price point they’re going to ask: ‘where is the hype behind this brand?’ So I feel like, of course, it’s easy to support the big designers because everyone loves them”.
But her personal mission is to harmonise the familiar through female empowerment and emotive storytelling—fueled by a subtle streak of frustration—puts her on a good path of growth. “I just want to be able to tell stories through my collections, as I had a really good time putting this one together, bringing in people who I’ve worked with in the past as well before the brands got any kind of recognition,” she says, explaining how “It was really a full circle moment, coming back and doing a first-ever catwalk after having done presentations before”.
Photograph: Kiera Simpson
Photograph: Kiera Simpson
It is clear that there is an emphasis on essentialism that has pared things down to the max, where volumes are streamlined for a functional impact that feels very much now. “The menswear got a lot of attention,” she enthuses. “I think people were really surprised by it because it’s the first time doing it”.
The most encouraging aspect of this collection might have been Bent’s faith in her own voice as a promising designer. As we move past our allotted interview time, she further emphasises the support of buyers to scale the label to the next level. “I feel like the foundations are there to secure an expansion,” Bent concludes. If enough customers feel the same way, then Bent’s voice could become that of contemporary ready-to-wear, too.
by Chidozie Obasi