Notes

Sass and Bide - The Aussie Designer Fashion Phenomenon
Edgy, urban denim and fierce party wear is the signature of Sass & Bide. This designer fashion label is popular with the young and stylish, avoiding anything stuffy and formal, all night for finger-on-the-pulse, flamboyant and fun street style, inspired by vintage clothing and vibrant markets worldwide.
Theirs can be an inspiring rags to riches story, if your stall in London's Portobello Market can be called rags (... it's certainly the best end of the rag trade!), quickly progressing to regular shows at New York and London fashion weeks and making in onto Australia's rich-list already in 2006.
Australian friends, Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke, traveled to London after their studies (Sarah- Jane, nicknamed Sass, qualified as an accountant, and Heidi, Known as Bide, was an art director. They started selling customized jeans in Portobello market in the late 1990's and inspired with that success, returned to Sydney on 1999. Here they quickly collected a following and showed at Australian Fashion Week in 2001. By the next season we were holding prepared to show on the prestigious London Fashion Week.
Their international success really kicked off in 2002. They happened to be in New York and serendipitously coincided with all the filming of some scenes from Sex inside City. Passing the set on the way to a meeting, they went about getting a security guard to feed one of the distinctive denim jackets to one in the stars. The star loved it, viewed their other designs and commissioned some one-off pieces for your show. This publicity propelled the label to stardom and from then until 2009, Sass & Bide showed at New York Fashion week to a devoted clientele of celebrities and young urban fashionistas. They only moved their catwalk show back to London during 2009 when Sarah-Jane was expecting her third child.
While it is their embellished denim that originally made their name, (remember fondly the customized jeans which they started with?), they will have three lines S&B, Sass and Bide and Sass and Bide Denim, and so are aren't afraid to learn with hot colour and plenty of bling. Their latest fall/winter 2011 collection is all eye-catching oranges and hot pinks, having a touch of citrus yellow the one cooler note.
Where to have Sass & Bide designs? Their own boutiques are typical within the Australian cities, and Australian mall Myers, recently bought shares in the label and will also be stocking them. The more prestigious department stores in New York and London stock Sass & Bide, as well as the duo are intending a London stand-alone boutique for 2012. Ladies Wrangler Jeans in the top online designer fashion stores also stock selected Sass & Bide pieces so be aware of them there, if 'young and stylish' describes your thing.
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