Fashion

Louise Roe Is About To Add "Designer" To Her CV

by Renata Certo-Ware

Red carpet host, Front Roe author, and reality TV regular Louise Roe is already something of a fashion icon. But now the Los Angeles (by way of Surrey, England) local is joining forces with an LA-based label to design a capsule collection of leather pieces. Louise Roe is collaborating with AF by DF, and the collection will launch in Spring 2016.

It'll be a small collection — just three pieces — but it will deliver big time in terms of versatility and wow-factor. According to WWD, the limited-edition pieces will be an embroidered suede vest in cognac, a belted off-the-shoulder chambray dress (isn't that just so Louise Roe?) and a silky, lacy cami in soft pink with lace details. Sounds great right? And it also sounds like it could be expensive. In reality, the collection is somewhat democratically priced — the cami will retail for $143 and the suede vest, the most expensive piece in the collection, will be $475. It's not exactly fast fashion prices, but the pieces promise to be versatile enough to be well worth the investment, which is still considerably less than most comparable contemporary labels.

Here's a peek at what could be the chambray dress from the collection:

If that's it, as the caption implies, it's perfection. I wasn't expecting a maxi dress, so this one is a pleasant surprise. It feels really fresh, and totally wearable — a longer length just took it from special occasion to wear-all-day.

This collab seems to have cropped up really organically. According to WWD, AS by DF designer Denise Focil and Roe met through mutual friends and immediately clicked. "We talked for hours about everything, even though we only designed three pieces together. She was really hands-on,” Focil said, of working with Roe.

Roe has already tried her hand at design, whipping up a few collections of shoes, bags and jewelry for British e-tailer Stylist Pick, but this is her first time creating clothing. The collection will be available online.

As for Focil, she's been designing for fifteen years now, and has definitely cultivated a distinct aesthetic rooted in leather. "Dressing a woman meant giving a woman her armor for the day," she said in a video AS by DF released this summer, which was filmed in Northern Italy and features plenty of cameos of a motorcycle winding through hilly Italian roads.

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

If that doesn't make you want one of Focil's beautifully-made and perfectly-fitted fringed motorcyle jacket, I don't know what will.

Charley Gallay/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

I can't wait to see what Roe and Focil have come up with together.

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