The Array: Soft power dressing

The Array evokes power and femininity by mixing structure with soft lines and revamping classic silhouettes with details inspired by couture. Edit Her her meets co-founder Yvonne Lim to learn more.

Yvonne studied BSc Maths and Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE) but says she knew she would end up in fashion; she first realised her love for it as a kid. “I didn’t want to [just] be stuck working on the business side, I wanted to be creative.” (Thankfully, she gets to do both as co-founder of The Array). And so, after completing her degree, she attended Parsons School of Design in New York. This was before going on to study for her Master’s degree in Fashion Womenswear at the Royal College of Art, which is where her journey into women’s workwear began.

The Array’s design ethos centres on themes of power and femininity, focusing on modern day women and contemporary culture. Yvonne explains: “It’s about empowering women, it’s about design by research, it’s about [clothes that are] optimised for work.” As for the brand’s muse, AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) immediately comes to mind. “I really look up to women that are really making a huge movement or using their platform to empower other women,” she says.

Before The Array, Yvonne reluctantly worked in the fast fashion industry in Malaysia, her home country. “I did that for three years. When I was done with that, I was sure that I did not want to go back into it. I see the amount of waste it creates,” she says.

Yvonne showed her first designs to some close friends (during the early development phase) – most of whom happen to work in the corporate world – including actuaries, accountants, doctors and entrepreneurs. Their response wasn’t what she’d hoped for. ‘Oh, it looks really cool, but there’s no way I would wear this to work, or in real life’, she recalls them saying. And she admits getting distracted by the thrill of design. “I was having so much fun exploring my personal aesthetic, I realised that I didn’t put the woman first. How am I empowering women as a designer, if I’m making things that they don’t want to wear?” So, she refocused her attention from stylised pieces to wearable designs that real women actually want to wear.

Pictured: co-founders Shaonan Xu and Yvonne Lim; photography by Nhan Vo

To inspire this new shift in her design aesthetic, she began looking into women’s workwear and how it has evolved over the years. She recalls designers like Claire McCardell, who revolutionised women’s sportswear when designing ‘play clothes’ for working women. Yvonne also pinpoints Donna Karan’s soft jersey monotone and highlights the big shoulders of the 80s power dressing movement.

When it comes to the type of women’s workwear she’s creating at The Array, Yvonne has a clearly defined take on things. “It’s soft power dressing – celebrating your femininity but not having to feel like you need to dress like a man to demonstrate your competence and intelligence. And feeling comfortable with your identity but still looking professional and sleek.”

And her fashion viewpoint is a result of extensive groundwork. ‘Design by research’ is The Array’s philosophy, after all. As for where it comes from: before The Array was a brand, it was part of Yvonne’s graduate collection, which was informed by research. She conducted interviews with working women – such as entrepreneurs and those in industries like marketing, investments and computer science. “It was a pretty diverse bunch,” she tells me. For example, there was the woman from Google: “Google’s dress code is so casual, but she personally likes to dress well; she irons everything in the morning before she goes out.” Quite impressive given that most of us will scour every corner of our wardrobes to find clothes that don’t need ironing.

Another lady from IBM told Yvonne, “It’s totally fine to wear a t-shirt and jeans to go into work,” which relates to Yvonne’s point that dress-down culture is nothing new. “Even before the pandemic, we were seeing this move towards business-casual, or just not having to think of work clothes as work clothes specifically,” she says.

Being so invested in market research means that Yvonne has found herself “stalking” women on LinkedIn and other networking platforms. This has led to her meeting a few of them in person, where they “just talked about work clothes” over a coffee. In addition, she conducts online surveys to reach an even wider audience and truly understand women’s thoughts, wants and needs in relation to workwear. “All this helped to build the foundation for what we needed to design, what kind of garments we should be working on and how we can elevate and improve each piece,” she explains.

She tells me she was lucky to complete her interviews before the pandemic, as she was able to meet many of the women at their physical workplace and observe what they were actually wearing. “Some people are really casual with t-shirts and jeans and some like shirts and blazers. But most of the time, the only formal thing they have is a blazer.” This reiterated to her that women don’t always want to wear the stereotypical suit. And it’s these conversations with real women that propelled Yvonne to design workwear she felt confident they will want to wear.

Yvonne’s clear dedication to style with purpose didn’t go unnoticed by The Royal College of Art, who accepted her and co-founder Shaonan Xu on the Creative Brand Accelerator programme. It lasted six months and involved mentoring in finance and marketing. Yvonne insists this is what enabled them to develop The Array in the first place.

Luckily they did, as not only is The Array focusing on what modern women want to wear, it’s also encouraging them to buy less and choose well. “We try to look at every aspect, from the fabric, to the cut, to the silhouette: is it timeless? Is it flattering? Is it still stylish? And then on to the details, like pockets. So many women complain that a lot of clothes don’t have pockets.” Yvonne resonates with these women as she doesn’t carry a bag; for her, pockets are non-negotiable.

As part of her research, Yvonne compares the functionality of womenswear to menswear. “If you look at men’s workwear, there are a lot of very innovative performance fabrics. Somehow, the same range is not available to women, so we mainly use a lot of men’s luxury shirting,” she explains. “Women were telling us, ‘Oh, my brother has a shirt and it’s so awesome. I cannot find a version for women’.” This is why she spent so long researching fabrics, to ensure that pieces are practical. Not only do they look and feel good, but they’ll also stand the test of time.

Since The Array is all about timeless yet elevated capsule pieces, I ask her what top five items should be in a woman’s wardrobe. “Definitely a good, well-cut blazer, the perfect coat that’s water-resistant and the perfect shirt like the one I’m wearing right now with jeans.” She’s referring to the brand’s ‘Signature Shirt’, which is crease-resistant (many women complained about wrinkles that appeared in their clothing over the day) and also features a clever tab that prevents the chest from being exposed, another pet peeve that came up a lot in market research.

The fourth item Yvonne advocates is “the perfect straight cut trouser”. She recommends The Array’s ‘Transformative Trousers’ which are a solution to yet another workwear dilemma. “Women told me they switch from heels to trainers,’ she explains, ‘I have personally had the same problem: when I’m wearing trainers, my trousers are too long.” This common issue was the inspiration behind the adjustable hems of the brand’s trousers. Designed to work with a variety of shoes, the ‘Transformative Trousers’ fold up and are secured with a clip.

I push Yvonne for her fifth and final capsule wardrobe item. “My favourite piece right now would be our ‘Reversible Dress’. It’s something that I thought of during lockdown.” It’s for those times when you want to swiftly transition from lounging at home to attending meetings (albeit virtually, for now). “So, you can wear it really loose and relaxed, or you can gather it at the back and cinch it at the waist,” she explains. “Something that’s really optimised for different occasions is really important for how our work culture is right now,” she adds. Other innovative pieces in the range include a simple, crease-resistant t-shirt and an Italian wool suit which has a natural stretch that’s ideal for travelling. Both are must-have items for any business trip.

The Array’s designs are a combination of structure, durability and ‘couture-inspired dressmaking cues.’ Yvonne says, “For us, it’s thinking about how [to make] a garment look special or expensive. It’s always about the tiny little details – the gathering at the back of the dress, or the silk cord that we use for the camisole. It conveys a real sense of timelessness and luxury. But it’s also what’s setting us apart from other brands or other garments.”

Currently, everything from deciding on fabrics and sampling to pattern-cutting and draping is done by Yvonne and Shaonan, and they spend a lot of time developing each piece. This is while working with “wonderful” local factories (they’re only 30 minutes away) in London. They help the brand’s pre-order system to run smoothly, and the benefits of being so close enables the duo to check on things constantly. “That’s a real advantage for us,” Yvonne enthuses.

I’m curious to know what it’s like having the male perspective of co-founder Shaonan – “an expert in tailoring” – on board. So, I ask if he can briefly join in on our discussion and share his take on things. “We intend to create our (women-centric) workwear tailoring that not only empowers women who wear it, but frames women’s bodies. We have designed the lapel of our jacket to be flattering to women’s proportions. The seam lines gently hug and shape the body, and (in comparison to the usual horizontal straight pockets,) the slanted flap pockets add a little feminine flare. Additionally, we have designed our jackets (derived from men’s tailoring) to be fully functional, and easy-care Italian wool provides a better wearing experience for women,” Shaonan explains.

Back to Yvonne: “I’m a little bit better with draping and dresses. So, we have good synergy where we can combine dressmaking and tailoring and build a collection that has full structure but is still feminine. That really helps elevate our collection,” she says.

In terms of plans to scale the business: “We use luxurious fabrics and we are made in London, so to keep that margin accessible, we want to stay direct-to-consumer.” And while Fashion Week looks a lot different right now, Yvonne reveals plans for showing their next main collection. “We actually want to do a project called ‘The Inspired Edit’, where we work with working women ambassadors and create pieces for them. So, it’s taking a very personal approach in our ‘design by research’ philosophy. And with that, every piece, or every outfit, has a very special narrative, too. We’re starting the planning stages right now, but we hope to create a film that we could show in September at London Fashion Week.” How exciting. And I’m touched when Yvonne reveals that our feature on Fareeha training to be pilot was an inspiration behind this initiative.