Of all the stylish crews in London, the one that looks freshest is the decidedly understated group outfitted by Ella Boucht. The 27-year-old, who is Finnish by birth and educated by Central Saint Martins, has created a defined look that can be described as a rowdy, sexy Savile Row. The collection contains waistcoats, a signature in Bouchts designs, pleated trousers with just the right amount of slouch, and suiting accessories like wallet chains and suspenders. At a moment when many tropes in fashion can feel wrong and overdone in 2020, Bouchts clothes are assertive, low-key, and right. Its not by chance, either: Bouchts experience with suits is deeply personal, and their garments are tailored to their friends or queer womxn, butches, dykes, non-binary, and trans people.

Boucht never intended to be a fashion designer. Instead, they had aspirations to be an actor. While in the theater world, Boucht met a seamstress who piqued their interest in what was happening behind the scenes rather than onstage. I think it was more about the interest in the craft and learning everything about how to construct, how to sew, and how to build a garment, more than maybe the actual designing, they say. For Boucht, the interest in design started when they entered the world of Tumblr, a portal that opened up their interest in clothing as well as queerness, sexuality, and identities. Eventually, Boucht went to design school in Sweden where their world expanded with new friend circles; in 2018, they started attending Central Saint Martins working towards a masters degree in womenswear.

Boucht considers suiting as something that helped them figure out gender, identity, and sexuality. Their friend group at Central Saint Martins have become the inspiration for Bouchts designs and suitsmainly because it was never easy for Boucht or their friends to get the right suit. When you tried to find a suit, as a non-binary, gender-fluid person, its sometimes really hard because suits are either made for men or made for women. Theres not really anything in between, says Boucht. I usually bought, and still buy, a lot of suits that are secondhand or vintage, and then have to re-tailor them quite a lot.

There are several issues when re-tailoring a traditional mens suit, including cumbersome details like taking in a broad shoulder silhouette. Especially for queer people, there is a lot of body dysmorphia, and therefore you have to take that into account when designing and altering suits for them, for the person to feel as comfortable and sexy in their own skin as possible, says Boucht. Now, Boucht tries to work from a non-binary perspective, mixing in different cuts from mens and womens suiting, eventually funneling those attributes into their own creations.

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Ella Boucht Is Bringing London's Queer Community Together With Their Cool Suiting - Vogue