“It’s a new adventure for my mother and I.”
Truer words can’t be said for Tilly Wood and her mother Robyn, the duo behind Hyde Park’s Datiro Designs.
The self confessed lace, leather and everything-tailored fanatics first began their love affair with fashion following frequent trips to Bali and meeting a quality tailor who made a formal dress for Tilly. From falling in love with the quality hand made clothing, finding the right fabrics, to implementing their own personal style into their designs, the rest is history for Datiro Designs.
“It’s a bit of a story,” says Tilly.
A story it is. Robyn and her husband recently sold a successful startup family business, Adelaide Letterboxes, which creates architecturally, designed letterboxes, selling retail, commercial and wholesale, while daughter Tilly is fresh from finishing her year 12 studies.
“Fashion is always something we’ve loved and wanted to take further,” says Tilly. “We’ve put a lot into the business in the last 9 months. A lot of blood, sweat and tears.”
Following the death of Robyn’s youngest daughter Ella, the Wood family chose to turn something tragic into an altogether positive experience – setting up a charity which is now subsequently funded by the Government, and chasing their dreams to pursue a career in fashion design.
“After all we had been through, it made us realize that life is short and you need to take the chances that are important to you,” says Robyn.
Sharing their sleek King William Rd space with Adelaide’s shoe queen Regina Sole Queen, it’s hard not to consider the pairing as a match made in heaven.
“Being shoe fanatics and living close by, we already knew Rosie from Regina Sole Queen,” says Tilly. “We just had to find a way to have the fashion and shoes work together.”
With the three talented designers, Robyn, Tilly and Rosie in the one store, the chic space is bound to have something for everyone.
Tilly and Robyn’s own personal style is stamped all over the classic cuts at Datiro Designs, creating garments that could suit women from 18 to 80 (literally). Using 50s era inspiration in their hand sewn sequined chiffon dresses, lace dresses, dramatic gowns, leather skirts, structured blazers and coats with penguin tails, the store mirrors Robyn and Tilly’s sentiments on classic, timeless fashion.
Their must have list for winter 2013 includes leather structured blazers, double-belted trench coats and slimming pencil skirts.
“We see what we want and what people are looking for. We knew big, bold colours were coming back into fashion. We knew that the 50s were coming back into fashion and took advantage of that,” says Tilly.
“Older women and mid-twenties women don’t want to wear hipsters anymore. Our skirts and pants are high-waisted but still have that 50s feel to them, cutting off around the ankle so you can see the shoes,” says Tilly
“Knowing what women want makes it so much easier to help them feel good about their bodies,” says Robyn.
To complement their fashion, Datiro Designs also stocks Sydney’s Tessarella House jewellery, consisting of beautiful handmade earrings, rings, necklaces, bracelets and belts made with Swarovski crystals and pearls. For the bag ladies out there, MIOW’S Elaine Khoo’s leather bags, unique laptop and iPad bags are a prominent feature in the Hyde Park store.
And with their long and vast experience in wholesale manufacturing, the Datiro duo also provide a wholesale manufacturing service. “We can provide apparel for all business needs” says Robyn.
So what next for Datiro Designs? Alongside an official invite-only launch party in early May, Robyn says she would love to give designers a chance to showcase their designs within the King William Street store.
“We’d love to especially help up and coming designers,” she says. “[We want to] showcase designers not based in Adelaide from time to time. Perhaps a pop up store within a store! Robyn adds.
Robyn also namedrops a few designers whose names I can’t reveal just quite yet. Suffice to say, it will be very exciting.
Visit Datiro Designs at Shop 1 / 92-94 King William Rd, Hyde Park, Adelaide, 8357 9112, [email protected]
Visit Datiro Designs at 1/92-94 King William Rd, Hyde Park, Adelaide and like them on Facebook.
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