MWK meets… Deborah Medhurst, Co-Founder of The Middle Daughter 🌻
When did you first have the idea for The Middle Daughter and how did this evolve to where you are today?
The concept was to create a girls wear brand that offered well-made, fashion-forward wardrobe options for the modern girl. I wanted it to be a reflection of my own personal style and to offer a wardrobe that I would love to wear as a child, and one that I would be inspired to dress my own daughter in (if I had one).
We are chuffed to have enjoyed success with the label so early on. I think having had the experience that we have in the kids fashion world (creating the No Added Sugar brand), it has allowed us to be sensitive to the market but more importantly, confident. Trusting in your own vision has a lot of value.
Did you always want to work in kids fashion?
No, not at all. Fashion was never something I envisaged. I studied Interior Design and remained in this industry until the early 1990’s when Ric & I created a clubbing brand. We hosted one-off parties in unusual locations for London’s glitterati alongside creating extravagant parties for the fashionable end of the corporate world. We did this for 10 years before selling the brand. Then I had a baby and purely for fun, designed some slogan T-shirts which went a bit crazy. It was only a few years later that I found myself running a kids fashion company. Not the plan but an exciting path for sure.
At MWHQ we are inspired by female leaders (being headed up by two incredible women!) Could you share your top tips for leading a team?
I would say inciting confidence in their abilities is key, providing support but giving them the rope to climb. And ultimately just being a good human being. I had a boss when I was starting out in my interior design career who was instrumental in my style of leader-ship. She valued what I could bring, even in my naivety, and was enormous fun to work with. She showed me how work need never be cheerless.
Could you share some of your inspirations and references for the SS21 collection?
Often the starting point for a collection can be as simple as an idea for one style or a particular colour mix, no great overriding story. I tend to avoid being weighed down in this way and instead allow ideas, from that seed, to evolve organically. As this was with the summer collection. Here I reference some of my own childhood wardrobe memories; the midi length tiered skirts and shirring were all details that I recall fondly.
What’s most important to you when choosing an outfit for your children?
As a mother to boys it’s always been about the ease of wear. Now they are big teenagers (16 & 20), I have no say or sway in what they wear, but certainly when they were younger they mostly wanted to be comfortable. I would always want to style them but you have to pick your battles. Fretting over what they looked like was really my issue and I needed to let them assert their own identity and independence. Not an easy thing to let go off when aesthetics are important!
Which is your favourite from your collection on MWK and if you were dressing to twin with your little one, which piece would you choose from the MWHQ platform to match?
II love the boldness of our sateen multi-stripe dress ‘Up, Up & Away’. It feels confident. It’s definitely a fancy occasion style so I’d dress her up in this and pair it with the incredible House Of Sheldon Hall metallic green gown. Both boast vertical and shiny stripes which I love. I reckon we’d turn a few heads in these frocks.
The rental retail model is a great way for customers to consume sustainably. Is finding sustainable options something important to your business ethos?
Yes. We have recently re-sited all our production from India to Europe in order to improve our sustainability. We are very conscious that producing fashion is never going to be an easy box to tick sustainability-wise. But even as a small brand by doing all that we realistically can, we collectively can impact change.
What were your favourite outfits as a child, and do you go back to these early memories when creating your collections?
Without a doubt my childhood memories of styles I adored inspire styles and details in our collections. Particular styles that I was head-over-heels about were a cream seersucker midi-length tiered skirt (our own ‘Great Lengths’ skirt in both the winter and summer collections are testament to this), and a button-through contrast-stitched denim skirt, bought by my dad from a very posh kids boutique. I was so far off a Tom Boy, it was always about the dresses.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t stress about so much, it’s really not that important. I always ask myself when feeling a bit overwhelmed with something ‘will this be important on my deathbed?’. We all know the answer to that.
The end of lockdown is finally on the horizon! What are you most looking forward to doing once it’s over?
Leaving the country. Finding someplace with less insanity.
